Inside Jeff Hafley’s coaching style: ‘He’s not a big yeller’

The Miami Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley to be Mike McDaniel’s successor as well as the 12th head coach in franchise history earlier this month.

While Hafley perhaps doesn’t stand out as a household name and has never been a head coach at the NFL level, Dolphins fans should have a better idea of his coaching style after some recent comments from two of his former players at Boston College.

First, former BC offensive tackle Jude Bowry — a prospect in the upcoming draft — called Hafley a “very smart coach” who has strong situational awareness and hangs his hat on the defensive side of the ball.

“I think he was a very smart coach,” Bowry said. “He was very well aware of situational football and just kind of teaching the X’s and the O’s. Definitely on the defensive side, too. More so on the defensive side. But he knew offense pretty well. So I think overall he was a great coach for me.”

Former BC standout wide receiver Lewis Bond — another 2026 draft prospect — spoke on Hafley’s coaching modus operandi as well. According to him, Hafley is “not a big yeller” but is someone his players can learn a lot from.

“He’s not a big yeller, he’s more of a coacher,” Bond said.

“He likes to teach football. Sometimes he’ll try to teach the offensive side of football through the defensive mind. So you can definitely learn from it if you’re willing to learn.”

Bond called Hafley a “player’s coach” and said the love he has for his guys is “one of his biggest strengths.”

“I think he’s a player’s coach,” Bond said. “His love for his players, how he had our backs no matter what. I think that’s one of his biggest strengths. Also, his defensive mind, his ability to coach the DBs (defensive backs) up and the defense in general.”

Hafley served as BC’s head coach for four seasons, from the 2020 season through the 2023 campaign, and he led Boston College to a pair of winning seasons as well as a Fenway Bowl victory in that time.

More recently, he was the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator and worked for Green Bay for the last two seasons before the Dolphins hired him to patrol their sidelines. Under Hafley’s guidance, Green Bay had some strong defensive seasons, particularly in the 2024 campaign.

Whether or not his easy-going coaching style will pay dividends for Miami remains to be seen, but up to this point, Dolphins fans should be optimistic that he can be an effective leader in his new home. Hafley will look to coach the Dolphins back into the playoffs in the 2026 season after they haven’t qualified for them in a little bit — Miami’s last appearance was in the 2023 season.