A month of wrenching emotion for Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin took another turn Friday when he landed the Miami Dolphins’ head coaching job.
The deal was sealed less than two weeks after Philbin’s 21-year-old son drowned in an icy Wisconsin river. The Dolphins confirmed the hiring in a news release and plan a news conference Saturday.
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Philbin, who has never been a head coach, first interviewed with Miami on Jan. 7. The body of son Michael, one of Philbin’s six children, was recovered the next day in Oshkosh.
After spending a week away from the Packers, Philbin rejoined the team last Sunday for its divisional playoff loss to the New York Giants.
Philbin has been with Green Bay since 2003, serving as offensive coordinator since 2007. Coach Mike McCarthy called the plays, but Philbin put together the game plan for one of the NFL’s most prolific offenses.
The Dolphins’ top choice, Jeff Fisher, turned them down a week ago to become coach of the St. Louis Rams. Miami owner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland then conducted a second round of interviews this week with Philbin, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and Todd Bowles, the Dolphins’ interim coach at the end of the season.
"Joe has all the attributes that we were looking for when we started this process," Ross said in a statement. "Jeff Ireland and I felt Joe was the right choice to bring the Dolphins back to the success we enjoyed in the past."
The Dolphins are coming off a third consecutive losing season, their longest such stretch since the 1960s. Even so, Philbin called them "one of the premier franchises in professional sports."
"The Dolphins have a strong nucleus to build around," he said in a statement. "And working with everyone in the organization, I know that together we will return the team to its winning tradition."
Roethlisberger settles rape lawsuit
Lawyers for Ben Roethlisberger and a woman who accused him of raping her at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino in 2008 have reached a settlement that ends her civil lawsuit against the Steelers quarterback.
Cal Dunlap, the Reno, Nev., lawyer representing the woman, confirmed the settlement on Friday but declined to discuss the terms of the agreement.
"The matter has been resolved and I have no further comment," he told The Associated Press.
The Reno Gazette-Journal first reported the settlement on its website. The settlement also dismisses claims against Harrah’s employees whom the woman had accused of covering up the alleged sexual assault in Roethlisberger’s penthouse suite in July 2008.
The woman was a VIP casino hostess at Harrah’s when she said Roethlisberger allegedly lured her to his room under the pretense of fixing his television. Roethlisberger was in town at the time to play in a celebrity golf tournament.
Roethlisberger denied the allegations.
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