DAVIE, Fla. -- New Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin stood at a lectern, swallowed hard and began to talk about his son's recent drowning. His wife and their five surviving children sat to the side with somber expressions reflecting a loss worse than any game.

Moments later everyone was laughing as Philbin joked about his good fortune in becoming a first-time head coach. He and his family are counting on a bright future to ease the pain of the recent past, and his introductory news conference Saturday was part of the healing process.

"All people suffer loss," said Philbin's wife, Diane. "When you lose someone, it's part of life, but you have to be resilient. You have to take the bad things and difficult times and turn them into good, and that's what we will do. And we'll do it with the Miami Dolphin family."

Philbin, the Green Bay Packers' offensive coordinator for the past five years, said he's eager to lead the Dolphins back to the top of the NFL. He noted they haven't been there since 1973, the year of their most recent Super Bowl championship season.

Philbin inherits a team that has Matt Moore as the incumbent starter but likely will look to upgrade at the quarterback spot. For all the speculation that Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn, an unrestricted free agent, could follow Philbin to Miami, league sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that the Dolphins will closely monitor the health and availability of Peyton Manning above all other names.

Sources also told Mortensen on Sunday that Philbin was already staging interviews to fill out his coaching staff, beginning with former Jaguars offensive line coach Andy Heck for the same position in Miami.

Philbin has been an assistant since 1984 -- 10,061 days, by his count -- and said that gives him sufficient experience to succeed as a head coach.

"I have a lot of faith in what I'm capable of doing," he said. "I've been fortunate to work with a lot of good people. I've been fortunate to be around winning programs, places where we developed players, we developed men, we had good teams. I'm just confident we'll be able to build the same thing here in Miami."

And then, 22 minutes into the news conference, the subject turned to his son's death.

Philbin interviewed with the Dolphins for the first time Jan. 7. The next day, the body of 21-year-old Michael Philbin was recovered from an icy Wisconsin river.

"You're heartbroken. You're devastated. It's hard to comprehend," Philbin said.

He spent a week away from the Packers, drew comfort from a funeral that included 68 family members, then rejoined his team last Sunday for its divisional playoff loss to the New York Giants.

Philbin said he went home that night uncertain whether to remain a candidate for the Dolphins' job -- or whether the position was even still open.

"I had no idea," he said. "The TV hadn't been on in our house for a week."

Philbin then received a pep talk from his 16-year-old son, Tim.