Dolphins make special teams coach assistant head coach too

Darren Rizzi, the Dolphins special teams coordinator since 2010, has been named assistant head coach.

Rizzi will continue as special teams coordinator.

The animalistic Miami Dolphins look to turn their season around on Sunday at Tennessee. This season, Jarvis Landry is the NFL’s main punt returner, averaging 20.6 yards per return. Additionally, rookie punter Matt Darr now is fifth in the National Football League by averaging 48.8 yards per punt.

Rizzi was head coach at the University of Rhode Island in 2008. The Dolphins don’t have an assistant head coach so the move seems like a logical choice.

The Dolphins reached out to a number of experienced head coaches in a search for help for new interim head coach Dan Campbell. Rizzi has done a very good job since arriving in Miami and will be a strong candidate to be retained should a new head coach be brought in at years end. He coached at New Haven from 1994-97, where he was UNH’s defensive coordinator in his final year there, after overseeing the special teams and defensive line his first three. He was signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1992 prior to beginning his coaching career.