Jason Taylor has to answer his phone promptly now.
A year after taking his first college coaching position as an analyst on Mario Cristobal’s staff at Miami and about a month after being promoted to his first on-field assistant college job (as UM’s defensive line coach), the Pro Football Hall of Famer has to be responsive when trying to talk to recruits in his new role.
“I’m used to being the one that doesn’t text people back right away, doesn’t call people back,” Taylor said. “You get to blame it on your gold jacket (awarded to each Hall of Famer) or whatever, think that you can take your time replying. Now I feel what people that kind of reach out to me sometimes feel. It ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun, you know.”
Being more responsive to phone calls and text messages is far from the only change brought on by joining a full-time coaching staff. Although Taylor, who played 15 years in the NFL and 13 seasons with the Miami Dolphins, did not need to become a college coach, he fell in love with coaching as his sons grew up playing football. Now he’s preparing for his first season as a full-time assistant coach.
“[I] feel like I can make an impact,” Taylor said. “I enjoy it. Yeah, are there hard parts to it? Sure. Is it long hours? Sure. If it was easy, everyone would do it. Right?”
Taylor was not a coaching novice before coming to Coral Gables. He spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Fort Lauderdale high school powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, helping the Raiders win three straight state championships from 2019-2021.
While with St. Thomas, Taylor developed a coaching style that he said is about “coaching them hard and loving them harder.” He said he works hard to explain the intricacies of defenses to his players so they know not only how to do something but why they are doing it.
“Not just telling them what to do but explaining that full picture makes them better football players,” Taylor said.
Jason Taylor is one of two defensive line coaches on Cristobal’s staff this spring, joining Joe Salave’a. The Hurricanes operated similarly last year, with Salave’a coaching the defensive line as a whole and Rod Wright coaching defensive ends. Cristobal said at the start of Miami’s spring practices that Salave’a and Taylor were both defensive line coaches.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that all work together and collaborate and try to get this thing done,” Taylor said. “Title’s what’s on the door.”
Salave’a said it has been “awesome” working on staff with Taylor.
“We’re like-minded,” Salave’a said. “We’ve been coached old-school, so our teaching is no different. By the same token, it’s a good, engaging rapport with our guys.”
Taylor has earned extensive praise from other coaches on staff, including new defensive coordinator Lance Guidry.
“He’s good. He’s really good,” Guidry said. “Not only his knowledge but his teaching and how patient he is. And he gets on them when he needs to. Of course, he’s got a gold jacket, right? So you respect that, him as a player, but he’s a great teacher, a great person.
“He’s got a bright, bright future. He’s going to be a defensive coordinator either at the college level or the NFL. I can tell already.”
Perhaps one of the biggest perks of having Taylor on staff is he can offer advice, and players know it comes from someone who went through similar trials and succeeded in college and in the NFL. Taylor spoke Thursday about giving advice to redshirt freshman defensive end Cyrus Moss, who has been trying to bulk up since he arrived on Miami’s campus last year.
“I did it for years, trying to get over 245 [pounds],” Taylor said. “I finally said, ‘Screw it, I’m going to be 240 and whoop a– at 240.’ I did it. I told him the same thing. Whatever that number is, don’t tie your level of success in your mind to that. Just go do what you need to do on the grass, make plays. They can call you skinny all you want. They called me skinny for a long time. They still call me that in Canton, too.”
