By Josh KatzowitzWhen new Dolphins coach Joe Philbin was asked during his introductory news conference Friday how he was dealing with the death of his son while experiencing his biggest triumph as a football coach, Philbin answered by telling a short story of what his life has become since 21-year-old Michael drowned in an icy Wisconsin river on Jan. 8.
When Philbin flew home to Green Bay from Miami after interviewing for the first time with owner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland about two weeks ago, he said he was “at 30,000 feet in the air and felt great about things.”
Then, his son died and “we had a beautiful service eight days ago,” Philbin said. “I can’t tell you how touched we were as a family by the tremendous outpouring from the community.” He coached in the Packers loss last week vs. the Giants, and afterward, he said he felt dejected with what had happened to his life.
“I came home Sunday night and the TV hadn’t been on for a week,” Philbin said. “I don’t know, maybe the Dolphins had already hired a head coach. I talked to my son, Tim, and he asked me what the Dolphins were doing.
Said Joe: “I have no idea what they’re doing.”
“You’re going to go after the job, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You’d better go after that job. Your son, Michael, would have wanted you to go after the job.”
And that immediately changed Joe Philbin’s perspective. Snapped him, for the time being at least, out of his funk. “That,” he said, “was the start of me getting back and getting moving again.”
Amazingly, in the presser, Joe Philbin then laughed.
"This family is like the Griswold’s,” Philbin said, referring to the National Lampoon Vacation movies. “We’re an all-in family. We have heart and soul in what we do. We’re excited about coming to south Florida. We’re going to get down here and get immersed in the community as quickly as possible.”
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