Vance Johnson to Denver?

Vance Joseph named Denver Broncos head coach
Joseph interviewed and dined with a Broncos contingent Tuesday

link: http://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/11/vance-joseph-denver-broncos-head-coach-job/

John Elway was hopeful he could get one of those “bright young guys” as the Broncos’ next head coach — one who could revamp the offense, improve an already elite defense and be the leader the team needed to get back to the playoffs.

The hints were dropped, the checklist made and, on Wednesday, the deal reached: Vance Joseph will be the Broncos’ next head coach, taking over for Gary Kubiak.

When Kubiak resigned last week, Joseph’s name immediately surfaced as a leading candidate.

On Tuesday, he met with Elway, president/CEO Joe Ellis, director of player personnel Matt Russell, director of team administration Mark Thewes and vice president of public relations Patrick Smyth for nearly four hours at the team’s Englewood headquarters, interviewing for a job he was in the running for two years ago. That evening, he dined with the Broncos’ contingent at Elway’s steakhouse to continue the day’s conversation.

“We enjoyed visiting with Vance Joseph at our facility today,” Elway tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “He has great leadership qualities and a strong vision of what it takes to win.”

No offer was agreed upon by the night’s end, though, and Joseph had been scheduled to leave for San Diego early Wednesday to interview for the Chargers’ head-coaching vacancy.

Instead, he stayed in town and returned to the team’s headquarters to finalize the deal.

Joseph, 44, most recently was the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins. He was the last of three candidates to interview with the Broncos, following Chiefs special-teams coordinator Dave Toub, who interviewed last Friday in Kansas City, and Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who interviewed in Atlanta on Saturday.

Joseph, a Colorado alumnus who spent two years in the NFL as a cornerback, arrives with 11 seasons of coaching experience in the league. He began his tenure in San Francisco, where he spent six years as a DBs coach for the 49ers (2005-10). Then he went to Houston, when he stood on the sideline for three years as the Texans’ secondary coach (2011-13) under then-head coach Kubiak and defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. After two more years as the secondary coach in Cincinnati (2014-15), Joseph landed his first job as a defensive coordinator a year ago, as part of Adam Gase’s new staff in Miami.

But his resume is deceiving. Joseph’s earlier years were spent on the other side of the ball, as a backup quarterback and running back at CU, where signs of his coaching potential were laid bare.

“It just seemed like it was supposed to work out the way it did because he was always the guy coaching,” recalled former CU teammate and receiver Michael Westbrook. “He played behind Kordell (Stewart), but V.J. was always, always the smarter one. Even when Koy (Detmer) was there — and I’m not calling Kordell dumb at all — we all know that Koy comes from a football family and V.J. was basically Koy’s coach, too.

“He was just a smart guy. He just knew the game and he’s always known the game. For him to end up being a head coach, it just seems like that was supposed to happen. Not to be the football player, but be the coach. Because he’s the guy that sees everything and he was the guy who was always very smart about offenses and defenses.”

Added fellow CU teammate and former NFL linebacker Chad Brown: “Not only was he serious about his job, but he was also serious about being a leader. Even if it was just on scout team.”

The Broncos were serious about him, too.

While Joseph’s NFL coordinator experience is limited and his head-coaching experience non-existent, the Broncos were impressed with his leadership and the way he held together a depleted group in Miami to help the Dolphins back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Miami was trounced last Sunday in a 30-12 wild-card loss at Pittsburgh, closing the door on its season but opening another to Joseph’s availability to the Broncos.

While Miami’s defense lagged during the regular season — 29th in yards allowed, 18th in points — and was picked apart by the Steelers, the emphasis from the Broncos’ perspective has been on Joseph’s head-coaching potential.

His hiring could provide a more seamless transition for Denver’s defense, a group Elway has rebuilt over the last six years to make into one of the league’s finest. In searching for the next head coach, Elway made it clear that revamping the offense was as much a priority as maintaining, even improving, the defense.

One of Joseph’s first big decisions will be naming his defensive coordinator. Promoting defensive backs coach Joe Woods is a possibility. As is renewing Phillips’ contract.

“Obviously we would like to keep as much continuity as we can, too,” Elway said last week. “If we can keep as much of them together, we’ll try to do that.”

There is a less obvious transition on offense. Joseph and his new offensive staff are expected to oversee another quarterback competition this off-season between Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. He will be tasked with finding improvement in a group that was depleted by injuries and hindered by a porous offensive line.

Although the final picture is yet to be formed, the biggest puzzle piece for the Broncos is filled.

“The offense will come,” Elway said last week. “… Defense has become our identity. I think offensively we have to take that on as a challenge and find guys who want to compete. We have to get better offensively and we have to compete better offensively to say. ‘You know what, we carry half of this load.’ You can’t rely on that defense. We’re going to be good on defense, but as an offense we have to take it as a challenge.”