New Miami DL coach Jason Taylor: ‘I’m all about coaching them hard and loving them harder’

Jason Taylor doesn’t wear his gold jacket while coaching defensive linemen on the University of Miami football field.

But the beloved Dolphins great and Pro Football Hall of Fame member, who was hired last month as the Hurricanes defensive line coach, still had to answer the obvious question Thursday: “Why?”

“These are 16-, 20-hour days year-round, a lot of recruiting,’’ a reporter told Taylor during his first meeting with the Hurricanes media. “What went into your decision to become a full-time coach?”

“You trying to talk me out of it?” Taylor joked. “I just got here, man.’’

Then: “I got ya. I love it. You know I started coaching Little League a few years ago now, eight, nine years ago. And then I was spending five years at St. Thomas [Aquinas high school in Fort Lauderdale] and falling in love with coaching and being around it. My kids went away to school. That’s what I’m good at. I feel like I can make an impact. 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?

“I’ve always wanted to be elite at everything I do, I’ll approach this the same way. Sometimes you gotta recruit, sometimes you gotta go where it snows to get people. You do what you gotta do. But it will not be for lack of effort and desire to compete and be the best at what we do.”

Hurricanes fans are thrilled, and so, it seems, is Taylor, 48, who in 2022 served as a defensive analyst with UM. He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time All-Pro, who was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 and earned the 2007 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. He was inducted in the Hall in 2017, his first year of eligibility.

Coaching style

Asked to describe his coaching style, Taylor said “I’m all about coaching them hard and loving them harder.’’

“We have a standard. You’ve got to clearly define the boundaries, the lines, what you expect, the standard of work, the standard of expectations. Clearly define what the job is, what they have to do, how we’re going to do it and then I’m really big on why we do it that way.

“Teaching players why we’re doing what we’re doing, why we’re calling a certain call and what situation we’re trying to do that. Why it’s important we need to get to the A gap on a certain play or why we’re dropping the boundary, why we need to be out there in the flat and how we do it. Not just telling them what to do but explaining that full picture makes them better football players.

“So to answer your question — I kind of got off on a tangent — we’re going to lay it all out, be very clearly defined, we’re going to coach the heck out of them. We’re going to coach them hard. And we’re going to push and demand and push and demand and push and demand, and then we’re going to love them even more.”

But Taylor made sure he used the F word, as in “fun.’’

“You might see me screaming one second and then laughing and smiling and patting somebody on the butt the next second,’’ he said. “It’s just the way we do it. We’re going to push and push and push and push, and we’re going to have a great time doing it. They’ve got four years to do this, five years at best to enjoy it, to enjoy a lifetime dream.

“I’m not going to be the person that wastes a day of their dream messing around. They might waste one but I’m not going to waste one and I’m not going to let them waste one.”

Parent, recruiter

Taylor is the father of 20-year-old Isaiah, entering his third season as a safety at Arizona; 18-year-old Mason, a 6-5, 245-pound tight end who is entering his second season at LSU; 17-year-old Zoë, a student at St. Thomas Aquinas; and toddler Jordan, who will be 2 on July 30. He spoke of his recruiting role after watching his sons go through the process.

“At the end of the day it’s always about relationships,’’ he said. “You try to develop those relationships, build those relationships, show them what we can do, how we can develop, how we can better their future, how we’re going to provide a quality education that you can’t beat in this country. You’re selling all the same things other places are selling, but it’s the relationships that you can form and build and then having that pathway to get them where they want to go.”

Added Taylor: “You just keep chipping away at it. Most of the kids have been great, families have been great. We still have to go out and work and out-compete and out-recruit every other school in the nation to get what we need to turn this program into where it needs to be.”

More Taylor

More, from Taylor, who said he’s working with the defensive tackles as well as ends, and that “the best four will be on the field,’’ no matter what position they’ve always played.

▪ On veteran defensive end Jahfari Harvey: “He had to get both shoulders fixed. ... Now he’s healthy. He’ll be back for training camp.’’

▪ On freshman early enrollee DE Rueben Bain: “Is as advertised,’’ and will play wherever he fits in best, even if it’s inside.

▪ On sophomore DE Nyjalik Kelly: “Everyone knows I’m a huge fan of Nyjalik’s. ... He didn’t have a chance to play last spring, so he really got thrown in the deep end during the season. ...He’s approaching it a lot differently, trying to be a leader. He just turned 18 years old so he’s still got that kid in him. Still does those things that make you scratch your head, but love him to death.’’

▪ On early enrollee freshman DE Jayden Wayne: “He’s taken a lot of reps and playing physical. He’s showing all the things that we saw when we recruited him.’’

▪ On 6-7 early enrollee freshman DE Collins Acheampong: “Collins is still bouncing back from injury. He’s attacking his rehab as a pro.’’

▪ On redshirt freshman DE Cyrus Moss, who was listed as 6-5, 215 pounds last season: “He’s struggled to keep weight on, and I can relate to that. ... I’m not going to quote his weight right now, but he’s up quite a bit in even the last two weeks, and he’s trending in the right direction. You can see his confidence build as he chases that number on the scale. I did sit him down and tell him: ‘Don’t chase the number so much. Chase the result. Chase what you’re trying to get to. The number on the scale is only part of the equation.’ Sometimes we can tie our level of success or our mental state or how we’re feeling based on such a small, silly thing like the scale. I’m saying it from experience. I did it for years, trying to get over 245.

“I finally said, ‘Screw it, I’m gonna be 240 and whoop ass at 240.’ ... They can call you skinny all you want. They called me skinny for a long time. They still call me that in Canton, too.”