Vance Joseph acted like a coach, led like a coach and recruited like a coach long before he became a coach.
Joseph arrived at the University of Colorado in 1990 as a 17-year old hopeful of someday becoming the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback. A year later, he unselfishly delivered a blow to those aspirations by becoming one of the lead recruiters bringing fellow Louisiana native Kordell Stewart to CU. Joseph knew Stewart had a good chance to beat him out, which he did, but he never hesitated to give his strongest pitch.
“He was a natural leader as a player and a coach,” said former CU coach Gary Barnett, who coached Joseph (1990-91) and later gave him his first shot as a coach in 1999. “He always had a knack for it. He could teach kids how to see things; he could teach them how to do things physically. He had a way of getting their respect. He was just hard enough on them where they knew they couldn’t cross the line, but he also related to them really well.”
Joseph, now the ‘ defensive coordinator, will interview for the Broncos’ head coaching job next week. At 44, he appears to fall well within Broncos general manager ’s desired characteristics of having “a lot of potential,” being a “very bright, young guy” and having a proven ability to lead men.
Joseph is the hottest defensive-minded head coaching candidate in the league and will be the third coach to interview with Denver, following special-teams coordinator Dave Toub (on Friday) and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (on Saturday).
Joseph this week called the head coaching attention “flattering,” but he said hasn’t spent any time focusing on it with the Dolphins preparing to play at Pittsburgh in a wild-card playoff game Sunday. He has received interview requests from five of the six teams with head coaching openings — the Broncos, , , Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers — per multiple media reports.
“He is more than ready,” said former CU teammate Darian Hagan. “He is a man of his word. He can motivate and get people to follow his lead.”
Joseph was a college teammate of Broncos director of pro personnel Matt Russell’s and coached under , who resigned Monday, and Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in Houston.
Only one of the Broncos’ last five head coaches (John Fox) came from a defensive background, but Elway is embracing defense as the heart of the Broncos for years to come.
“The priority is to continue to be great at defense,” Elway said. “The No. 1 priority is to stay there … and then continue to work on the offense.”
Joseph has said that Phillips, under whom he worked from 2011-13 as the Texans’ defensive backs coach, had the biggest impact on his coaching career. If Joseph is hired, it would interesting to see if he could retain his mentor as defensive coordinator. Other teams are expected to pursue Phillips, a 69-year-old impending “free agent.”
“Good, bad or indifferent, he was the same person every day. I never had a bad day with Wade,” Joseph told the Dolphins website in October. “We won 13 games the first year in Houston, we won 12 games the second year and we won just two games the third year and he was the same person. He never wavered. His philosophies never changed. I have so much respect for that man.”
This isn’t the first time the Broncos showed interest in Joseph. While he was the defensive backs coach in 2015, Joseph interviewed for the Broncos’ head coaching job before Kubiak was hired. Denver considered him its top choice as defensive coordinator, but the Bengals blocked the move because they saw him as an up-and-coming star and he had a year remaining on his contract. Kubiak then hired Phillips.
Joseph has learned under some of the NFL’s best defensive minds in Phillips, former Broncos defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and current head coach Mike Zimmer. Like Phillips, Joseph prefers running an aggressive 3-4 defensive scheme, though he ran a 4-3 set this season in Miami.
The Dolphins’ defensive rankings, as far as points allowed (29th) and yards allowed (18th), haven’t changed much from 2015, but they’ve moved up six spots in pass defense and forced nine more turnovers this past season than in 2015.
Also, Miami went from 6-10 to 10-6 and into the playoffs.
“Watching his defense this year shows he is a great communicator and manager,” Hagan said.
Going defensive?
A closer look at Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, 44, who will interview for the Broncos’ head coaching job next week:
- Joseph was 34-of-61 passing for 454 yards and ran for 237 yards in his career as a backup quarterback and defensive back for CU.
- He was an undrafted free agent who played two seasons in the NFL (17 games, six starts) with the and as a defensive back.
- CU coach Gary Barnett hired Joseph as a graduate assistant in 1999 when the young defensive back was hanging around Boulder and asked about getting into coaching.
- Joseph became CU’s defensive backs coach in 2002 when co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Tom McMahon was diagnosed with cancer.
- Joseph spent six seasons (2005-10) coaching the San Francisco 49ers’ defensive backs.
- He directed the to the third-ranked pass defense in two of his three seasons as defensive backs coach (2011, 2013). He has also been a part of three top-four scoring defenses in the last eight years: San Francisco, 2009, fourth; Houston, 2011, fourth; Cincinnati, 2015, second.
- The Dolphins hired Joseph as their defensive coordinator during the offseason last year.
- Joseph and his wife, Holly, have a daughter, Nataly, and a son, Stone.
Cameron Wolfe, The Denver Post
