"Joe Philbin sat at home last Sunday night, reeling from Green Bay's playoff loss to the Giants earlier in the day, and still coping emotionally with a far, far greater loss — the death of his 21-year-old son, Michael, who drowned Jan.?8.

One of Philbin's six children, Tim, asked his father about the Dolphins job that he had interviewed for nine days earlier.

"I was dejected," said Philbin, the Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator until the Dolphins hired him to be their coach on Friday.

"I had no idea if the Dolphins had even hired a coach. Tim said, 'You are going to go after the job, aren't you?' I said, 'I don't know what I'm going to do.' He looked at me and said, 'You better go after the job. Your son Michael would want you to go after that job.'?""