“Playoffs 3 straight years..won 2 playoff games…Miami hasn’t won a playoff game in 24 years.” Jimmy Johnson responded to a critic who questioned what Jimmy ever did without Jerry Jones in the NFL. Since Johnson’s departure, the Miami Dolphins have hired 12 different head coaches, but his successor, Dave Wannstedt, remains the last coach to guide the franchise to a playoff win back in 2000. But this year feels different, at least to Johnson, who believes the Dolphins have finally built a strong regime.

“Really impressed with the Dolphins leadership (Jon-Eric) Sullivan & (Jeff) Hafley…nice visit at the Big Chill,” Jimmy Johnson captioned his post, while sharing a picture with the Dolphins’ new regime, along with the former Dolphins’ head coach, Dave Wannstedt.

After the Dolphins fired general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniels, the team brought the former Green Bay Packers Vice president of player personnel, Jon-Eric Sullivan, as their new general manager, and former Packers defensive coordinator, Jeff Hafley, as McDaniels’ replacement.

The reason Johnson is optimistic about the Dolphins’ new leadership is the familiarity that Hafley is bringing to Miami. Before becoming an NFL coach, Hafley served as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers.

From 2008 to 2010, with Hafley as the Panthers’ defensive backs coach, the team consistently fielded one of the better pass defenses in the Big East. In 2008, Pitt finished 9-4 and allowed just 193 passing yards with 54.3% opponent completion rate. Aaron Berry finished the season with 3 interceptions, 1 sack, and 10 pass breakups.

A year later, Pitt improved to 10-3 while maintaining the consistency in the secondary. The Panthers allowed 192.4 passing yards per game with 56.9% opponent completion rate. While it’s true that the team regressed to 8-5 in 2010, Hafley’s secondary still put up a strong performance, allowing just 185.1 passing yards per game and 56.9% opponent passing yards.

During that stretch, Wannstedt was serving as the Panthers’ head coach, who mentored Hafley. Wannstedt, meanwhile, had already spent years under Jimmy Johnson before eventually succeeding him as the Dolphins’ new head coach in 2000.

He served as the defensive line coach at Oklahoma State from 1979 through 1982, with Johnson as head coach. And when Johnson became the Miami Hurricanes’ head coach in 1984, he brought Wannstedt on as the team’s defensive coordinator a couple of years later. It wasn’t long from there that Jimmy and Wannstedt went on to serve as the head coach-defensive coordinator duo of the Dallas Cowboys.

Fast forward to now, and Hafley, meanwhile, is entering his first season as an NFL head coach. And while it’s true that he has assembled a relatively young coaching staff, with Sean Duggan serving as defensive coordinator and Bobby Slowik running the offense, his ties to his mentor Dave Wannstedt, and to Wannstedt’s mentor, Jimmy Johnson, run deep, who have a combined track record of 81-64 as the Dolphins’ head coaches, including the playoffs.

Besides, the Dolphins also brought Troy Aikman to help the franchise in hiring better replacements for Chris Grier and Mike McDaniels. And while Jimmy Johnson has been optimistic about the Dolphins’ new regime, Aikman’s former teammate has admitted that it pains him to see Aikman serving the Dolphins.

Michael Irvin isn’t on board with Troy Aikman’s role with the Dolphins

After winning three Super Bowl rings, one Super Bowl MVP, and six Pro Bowls, Troy Aikman is guiding a team back to its glory, but that team isn’t named the Cowboys. The Dolphins hired Aikman as a consultant to advise owner Stephen Ross to hire a new regime, and Aikman’s former wide receiver, Michael Irvin, isn’t on board with that decision.

“It does pain me to see that,” said Irvin while appearing on the DLLS podcast. “I mean, I think it’s criminal for any club not to try to just glean as much as you can from a guy like Troy Aikman, whose job is to go and talk to teams, talk to coaches, and bring an understanding of what’s going on behind the scenes to the world. So he understands each thing that’s going on in your organization. I mean, there is no better place for information than to get it from a guy like Troy.”

Irvin believes that even before joining the Dolphins earlier this offseason, Aikman had hoped to follow John Elway’s path. Following his back-to-back Super Bowl wins, Elway joined the Denver Broncos‘ front office and went on to spend more than a decade in several roles, including as the Broncos’ general manager.

In Aikman’s case, that trajectory doesn’t appear to be unfolding anytime soon, as he recently noted that, “The Cowboys never elected to utilize me in the way the Dolphins have.” And while Miami initially brought Aikman in for a temporary role, the former Cowboys quarterback has made it clear that he intends to continue working with the Dolphins.