Trip to Houston marks appreciated reunion for Dolphins assistant Ryan Slowik, brother Bobby
Ryan and Bobby Slowik treasure moments like these in Houston.
For so many years, it was just them, their other two siblings, mother, Caroline, and father, Bob, as they moved from city to city throughout Bob’s coaching career. As Ryan and Bobby have carved out their own paths coaching football, the meetups have been sparse, maybe a chance encounter at the NFL Scouting Combine, or they’re able to plan out a vacation during the offseason.
But there they were, reunited in Houston this week for joint practices ahead of the Dolphins’ preseason game against the Texans, Ryan working on one field with Miami’s outside linebackers coach and Bobby on another as the Texans’ offensive coordinator.
“It’s kind of unique. It’s someone that you grew up with, obviously, and then to be in this situation is really cool,” Ryan told the Miami Herald.
From city to city
Growing up, change was constant for the Slowik family and it was something Ryan and Bobby embraced. Bob was a longtime defensive coach for two decades, with stints in Dallas, Chicago, Cleveland, Green Bay, Denver and Washington.
It was a sports family through and through; Caroline ran track at the University of Delaware, where she and Bob met. Then she coached track.
Bob jokes that he tried to steer his kids away from the often unstable profession that is coaching, but it’s all they knew. On game days, Ryan, the oldest of the siblings and six years older than Bobby, worked as a ball boy in junior high and high school.
“It was really cool being able to move around and experience different areas of the country,” Ryan said.
“And all that was great because you get to meet a lot of different people and stay connected to a lot of different people. It was cool having my dad in that environment because I think all of us kind of knew that we were football people and that’s what we wanted to do. We learned from an early age our paths and how neat it was.”
Said Bobby: “Even when [Ryan] was in college, I don’t think we stayed anywhere longer than four years. We were bouncing around pretty good. You get used to the lifestyle. You get used to having to change schools and really becoming an extremely tight family because that’s who’s going to go with you everywhere you go.”
Ryan played safety at Wisconsin-Oshkosh from 2001 to 2003 and he rejoined his father not too long after. In 2005, he worked as a defensive assistant in Denver. Bob was serving as the defensive backs coach for the Mike Shanahan-led Broncos. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was also on staff, working as a coaching intern, his first professional experience.
“It was great because there were questions and stuff that you get to ask him that you probably wouldn’t if he wasn’t, like, your father,” Ryan said. “You wouldn’t be comfortable asking someone, just constantly feeling like you’re trying to soak up as much as you can from someone. But since it’s your dad, you don’t feel as guilty about taking his time up.”
After four seasons in Denver, Ryan moved on to assistant positions with the Cardinals, Jets and Browns before heading to the college ranks to work as an assistant for Tennessee and then Webb School of Knoxville. He joined McDaniel’s Inaugural staff as a senior defensive assistant and was promoted to outside linebackers coach.
‘We are very connected to the Shanahans’
Since he arrived in Miami, McDaniel has often spoken about the impact Mike Shanahan and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan have had on his career. And the Shanahan and Slowik families have a relationship that goes back over 40 years. Bob and Mike Shanahan worked on the same staff at the University of Florida in the early 1980s and then reconnected in Denver.
All but Ryan were together in Washington when Mike Shanahan was head coach. Kyle was the offensive coordinator, McDaniel was an offensive assistant, Bob was a defensive position coach and Bobby was a defensive assistant.
“We are very connected to the Shanahans,” said Bob, who now coaches linebackers for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He added: “We’d never be where we are — any of us, myself included, Ryan or Bobby — without the help of Mike [Shanahan] and his mentoring.”
For Bobby, working with the likes of McDaniel, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur was an invaluable experience.
“When I wasn’t sure what was going on, I could ask them a question,” Bobby said. “They could ask me a question, even though most of the time they asked me a question, they already knew the answer. Some of the most brilliant offensive minds I think in the game right now were on that staff.”
After the Washington staff was disbanded, many of the coaches went their separate ways. But McDaniel and Bobby were back on the same staff when Kyle got the head coaching job in San Francisco. Bobby started as a defensive quality control coach, while McDaniel led the run game before being promoted to offensive coordinator.
They worked side by side when Bobby, who played wide receiver at Michigan Tech, finally got to move to the offensive side of the ball as an assistant in 2019. As they collaborated, they also connected over talks about family and life.
“I got to red-pen his run drawings, which he probably loves me for. By loving, he does not like that at all,” McDaniel said.
‘Slowik Bowl’
The wide receiver-defensive back one-on-ones that Ryan and Bobby used to have as kids now play out on the field with their respective squads. They met in San Francisco when the Dolphins played the 49ers last season. Earlier in the week, McDaniel jokingly dubbed Saturday’s preseason game the “Slowik Bowl.”
He added: “The Slowik family has been near and dear to my heart.”
Ryan got his start as a coach several years before Bobby so he’s always been a resource for his younger brother. With Bobby, 36, quickly rising up the ranks as a defensive assistant and now offensive coordinator, they share plenty of notes.
“He thinks he knows some of the tricks and trades of defense,” Ryan said. “I have to remind him we’re still evolving, too.”
