*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Feb 17, 1996: -- Beightol Signed; Belichick Lost to Patriots --

The Dolphins announced yesterday that they have signed former Houston offensive line coach Larry Beightol to be their new Assistant head coach and offensive line coach. Along with Beightol, the Dolphins announced that they have named George Hill to be their defensive coordinator.

Bill Belichick, thought by many to be a leading candidate for the defensive coordinator's job, was signed by the New England Patriots yesterday to be their Assistant Head Coach and defensive secondary coach.

In other news, the Dolphins have tendered an offer to restricted free agent running back Terry Kirby. However, the Dolphins declined to make offers to restricted free agents Kevin Brothen, Gene McGuire and Robert Wilson. This makes them unrestricted free agents, available to sign with any other team. The Dolphins have also offered exclusive-rights free agent Sean Hill a contract for an undisclosed amount.

The Miami Herald reported on Friday that the Dolphins have re-signed Steve Emtman, Terrell Buckley and Louis Oliver to contract extensions for significantly less money than they were originally to make this year. More details were not available to me.

My Comments:

Beightol is supposed to be widely regarded as a good offensive line coach. The Oilers last year did not have a particularly good offensive line, but they didn't have the personnel, either.

With the loss of Belichick, Jimmy Johnson settled for George Hill as his defensive coordinator. We'll have to wait to see how this works out, but given Johnson's reputation for hands-on defensive coaching, it probably won't make much difference.

If, indeed, Emtman, Buckley and Oliver have signed new contracts, that could free up a couple million for the draft and the other free agents. I also saw a report saying that Emtman and Johnson had a long conversation about Emtman's future with the Dolphins, in which Johnson reportedly said that he had plans to use Emtman.

To all those expecting Buckley to be gone, it doesn't look like this will happen. Perhaps Jimmy was sufficiently impressed with Buckley's physical talents to want to keep him - or perhaps the price was right.