| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born: | (1952-01-05)January 5, 1952 (age 73) Gainesville, Georgia, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Americus (Americus, Georgia) |
| College: | Florida |
| Career history | |
As a coach: | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season: | NFL: 34–46 (.425) |
| Postseason: | NFL: 0–2 (.000) |
| Career: | NFL: 34–48 (.415) NCAA: 68–41 (.624) WLAF: 12–7 (.632) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
Thomas Chandler Gailey Jr. (born January 5, 1952) is a formerAmerican football coach. Most recently in 2020, he was theoffensive coordinator for theMiami Dolphins of theNational Football League (NFL). Gailey has previously served as the head coach of theDallas Cowboys,Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, andBuffalo Bills from 1998 to 2012.
In a coaching career spanning 46 years, Gailey began his NFL career as part ofDan Reeves' coaching staff on theDenver Broncos from 1985 to 1990, appearing in Super BowlsXXI,XXII, andXXIV with the Broncos. Gailey was on thePittsburgh Steelers staff from 1994 to 1997 when the Steelers won four straight AFC Central titles and coached in oneSuper Bowl (XXX). He held his first professional head coach position in 1998, when he became the new head coach of theDallas Cowboys, and led the Cowboys to playoff appearances in each of his 2 seasons in Dallas. Gailey served as offensive coordinator for theMiami Dolphins in 2000 and 2001, when the Dolphins posted consecutive 11–5 records, and was part of the2000 Dolphins squad which was the last time the team had won a playoff game. Gailey served as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 and three games of the 2009 preseason.[1] In 2010, he was hired as the new head coach of theBuffalo Bills, where he coached until 2012. Three years after his firing from the Bills, he served as the offensive coordinator for theNew York Jets from 2015 to 2016. In 2020, Gailey came out of retirement to again serve as the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, where he would last for only a season before resigning on January 6, 2021.
Gailey was born inGainesville, Georgia, in 1952.[2] He attended Americus High School inAmericus, Georgia, where he earnedEagle Scout honors,[3][4] and aletterman inhigh school football, basketball, baseball, and golf. In football, he was an all-state selection as quarterback. Gailey graduated from Americus High School in 1970.
Gailey attended theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a three-year letterman for coachDoug Dickey'sFlorida Gators football team as aquarterback from1971 to1973.[5] Gailey graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1974.[2]
Gailey stayed with Florida as a graduate assistant for two years before taking his first actual coaching job as the secondary coach for theTroy Trojans ofTroy University (then known as Troy State University) in Troy, Alabama. After two seasons there, he spent four seasons with theU.S. Air Force Academy, including two asdefensive coordinator under head coachKen Hatfield.[6]
In 1983, Gailey made his way back to Troy, taking over the head coaching duties atTroy University. In his first season as head coach, he led theTrojans to a 7–4 overall record. In his second season at the helm in 1984, he led his #3-rankedTrojans to a 12–1 record en route to theNCAA Division II national championship, defeating #1-rankedNorth Dakota State, 18–17 to win the title.[7]
Gailey moved to the NFL the next year, when theDenver Broncos signed him as an offensive assistant andspecial teams coach. The team made threeSuper Bowl appearances during his six-year tenure and coached quarterbacksJohn Elway andGary Kubiak during his lone year as quarterbacks coach in 1988. In 1991, Gailey left the NFL to become the head coach of theBirmingham Fire of theWorld League of American Football, where the team made the playoffs in both years that he was coach.
After a one-year stint as head coach atSamford University, he returned to the NFL with thePittsburgh Steelers. After starting off as coach for thewide receivers, then moved up tooffensive coordinator for the1996 and1997 NFL seasons. The Steelers won their division all four years, and made one Super Bowl appearance.
On February 13,1998, Gailey was hired to take over a strugglingDallas Cowboys squad (as operated byJerry Jones), one that had faltered underBarry Switzer during his last season. Other candidates considered in the course of five weeks wereGeorge Seifert,Sherman Lewis, andTerry Donahue, with the latter being the closest to being hired before disagreeing with Jones about contract language that opened the door for Gailey. Notably in the leadup to the season, Gailey expressed his opinion to the Cowboys to not draftRandy Moss in the1998 NFL draft due to perceived off-field issues.[8][9] Gailey's Cowboys won theNFC East in 1998, winning all eight games against teams in their division. This would come back to haunt them when they played theArizona Cardinals, who happened to squeak into the playoffs as a Wild Card team despite losing to their division rival twice. Arizona trounced Dallas 20-7 for not only the first home playoff loss for the Cowboys in six years but also their first playoff win in a half-century. The Cowboys, hindered by injuries to players such asMichael Irvin (who suffered a career-ending injury midway through the year) went 8–8 in 1999 after starting the season 3–0, losing seven of eight games decided by a touchdown. They made the playoffs but lost to Minnesota.[10] He was fired on January 12, 2000, three days after the season ended for Dallas with three years remaining on his contract. Gailey is the only Cowboys coach to have never missed the playoffs with his team. Gailey is also sometimes referred to by fans as "the forgotten coach" of Dallas. Jones later stated his regret at firing Gailey after two seasons.[11][12]
Gailey returned to the offensive coordinator role, this time with theMiami Dolphins for the2000 and2001 seasons.[13]
Gailey was hired by the Yellow Jackets in 2002 to replaceGeorge O'Leary, who left to become head coach at theUniversity of Notre Dame (O'Leary infamously resigned at Notre Dame after only 5 days).[14] In his first five years at Georgia Tech, he had compiled a 37–27 record. Georgia Tech went to bowl games each year under Gailey, and won two: the 2003Humanitarian Bowl (a 52–10 win over theUniversity of Tulsa), and the2004 Champs Sports Bowl (a 51–14 victory overSyracuse University). Gailey compiled six winning seasons in six years at the helm. However, he never defeated Tech's biggest rival, theUniversity of Georgia, never won the ACC, never went to a BCS bowl, never won more than nine games, and never finished in the top 25. The2006 season was his most successful atGeorgia Tech, winning the ACC Coastal Division, but losing his last three games to rivalUGA,Wake Forest in theACC Championship Game, andWest Virginia in theGator Bowl.[15]
Gailey's name was mentioned for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins head-coaching jobs following the 2006 season, two teams for which he was offensive coordinator.[16] Gailey got neither job. On January 19, 2007, Gailey announced he would return to Georgia Tech.[17]
After a 7–52007 regular season and losing to theGeorgia Bulldogs football team for thesixth straight year, it was announced on November 26, 2007, that Gailey had been dismissed and his $1 million/year contract bought out.[18][19][20][21]
Gailey was hired on January 16, 2008, to become the offensive coordinator of theKansas City Chiefs. He inherited a Chiefs offense that ranked at the bottom of the league in almost every category the previous season.[22] Under his coaching, the Chiefs finished with the 24th-ranked offense in the league.[23] He was demoted after three pre-season games in 2009 and relieved of play-calling duties by head coachTodd Haley.[24] He spent the 2009 season out of football.
Gailey was introduced as the 15th head coach of the Buffalo Bills on January 19, 2010, replacing interim head coachPerry Fewell and becoming their fifth head coach in 10 years.[25] The Bills went 4–12 in his first season, with the 25th-ranked offense and 24th-ranked defense in the league.[26] The following year, Buffalo ranked 14th in offense and 26th in defense as the Bills improved slightly to finish with a 6–10 record despite starting the season with a 5–2 record.[27] In 2012, the Bills finished 19th in offense and 22nd in defense as they once again finished 6–10.[28]
On December 31, 2012, Gailey was relieved of his duties as the Bills' head coach. He amassed a career 16–32 record in Buffalo.[29]
Gailey was named offensive coordinator by the New York Jets on January 20, 2015, under new head coachTodd Bowles.[30] He was reunited with former Bills quarterbackRyan Fitzpatrick.
In his first season, the Jets finished with the 10th-ranked offense in the league. They finished 13th in the league in passing and 10th in rushing.[31] Through Week 14 of the 2016 season, the Jets had the 24th-ranked offense in the league.[32] Following the 2016 season in which the Jets ranked near the bottom of the league in offense and finished 5–11, Gailey retired on January 3, 2017.[33]
On January 20, 2020, Gailey was hired by theMiami Dolphins as their offensive coordinator under head coachBrian Flores, also Gailey's first time in Miami in 19 years. Gailey was again reunited with former Bills and Jets quarterbackRyan Fitzpatrick, whom Gailey served as head coach of the Bills from 2010 to 2012, and as offensive coordinator for the Jets from 2015 to 2016. On January 6, 2021, Gailey resigned from the offensive coordinator position.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Troy State Trojans(Gulf South Conference)(1983–1984) | |||||||||
| 1983 | Troy State | 7–4 | 4–3 | T–2nd[34] | |||||
| 1984 | Troy State | 12–1 | 6–1 | 1st | WNCAA Division II Championship | ||||
| Troy State: | 19–5 | 10–4 | |||||||
| Samford Bulldogs(NCAA Division I-AA independent)(1993) | |||||||||
| 1993 | Samford | 5–6 | |||||||
| Samford: | 5–6 | ||||||||
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets(Atlantic Coast Conference)(2002–2007) | |||||||||
| 2002 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–5th | LSilicon Valley | ||||
| 2003 | Georgia Tech | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | WHumanitarian | ||||
| 2004 | Georgia Tech | 7–5 | 4–4 | T–6th | WChamps Sports | ||||
| 2005 | Georgia Tech | 7–5 | 5–3 | 3rd(Coastal) | LEmerald | ||||
| 2006 | Georgia Tech | 9–5 | 7–1 | 1st(Coastal) | LGator | ||||
| 2007 | Georgia Tech | 7–5 | 4–4 | 3rd(Coastal) | Humanitarian | ||||
| Georgia Tech: | 44–32 | 28–20 | |||||||
| Total: | 68–43 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| DAL | 1998 | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 1st in NFC East | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toArizona Cardinals inNFC Wild Card Game |
| DAL | 1999 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 2nd in NFC East | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toMinnesota Vikings inNFC Wild Card Game |
| DAL total | 18 | 14 | 0 | .563 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |||
| BUF | 2010 | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 4th in AFC East | – | – | – | – |
| BUF | 2011 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 4th in AFC East | – | – | – | – |
| BUF | 2012 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 4th in AFC East | – | – | – | – |
| BUF total | 16 | 32 | 0 | .333 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |||
| Total | 34 | 46 | 0 | .425 | 0 | 2 | .000 | |||
Record withBirmingham Fire
| Season | W | L | T | Finish | Playoff results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 1st North American West | Lost Semifinals (Dragons) |
| 1992 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2nd North American West | Lost Semifinals (Thunder) |
| Totals | 12 | 7 | 1 | (excluding playoffs) | |