In his third year, Joe Philbin still learning to be a head coach

Written by Luis Sung | Twitter: @FLSportDebater
Before he came to Miami, Joe Philbin worked his way up the ranks of the Green Bay Packers' coaching staff, starting as the assistant offensive line coach, then getting the chance to work as a tight ends coach, then getting promoted to the offensive line coach, before finally being promoted to offensive coordinator. 

Now for the first time since becoming the Miami Dolphins head coach, he will go head-to-head against the man he worked under for six years. He and McCarthy are actually friends, so there won't be any bad blood between the two, and McCarthy has even given Philbin advice on how to be a head coach.

“You have to be yourself. Number one, do it the way you want to do it I think is one thing that he told me. Be yourself is another thing. You can’t really change who you are." Philbin said. "You can’t do it the way somebody else wants you to do it. You got to do the things you believe in, then stick to your guns and do the things you believe in."

Besides the advice given to him by McCarthy, Philbin has also gone through several of his own growing pains as a head coach, especially last year with the bullying scandal.

“I tell the players all the time one of the fun things about coaching is I’m 53 years old. If I felt like I had all the answers, it wouldn’t be as much fun coming to work every day." Philbin said. "You learn, you adjust, you adapt and, like I said, I think one of the biggest things that I’ve learned from being a head coach is when you move from coordinator is you can’t spend all the time from just a pure football side of things that you might like to. I think that is one of the things even last year taught me."

With any luck at all, Philbin will find a way to outcoach his mentor and lead the Dolphins to a win against his former team now when the team needs him most.

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