Joe Philbin and Mike Sherman are so close that long before Philbin hired Sherman to run the offense for the Miami Dolphins in one of the first moves as a head coach Sherman was one of Philbin’s high school teachers.

When the Dolphins missed out on the playoffs, the club was forced to shake up its coaching staff, including firing Sherman which almost caused an even bigger rift in Miami, according to Dan Pompei.

“Anyone who knows Philbin knows how much it hurt him to fire his dear friend Mike Sherman. In fact, we hear Philbin nearly pulled a Mike Munchak and fell on the sword himself. Sherman, though, convinced him to stay with this logic: If Philbin had quit, he would have cost every other assistant on the staff his job as well. This way, only Sherman lost a job.”

Munchak was fired last week by the Tennessee Titans after he refused to make changes to his coaching staff after missing the postseason for a third straight season under his watch.

Philbin did keep his job, but Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland did not, so Philbin gets a new lease with the Dolphins, even if it is for only one more year before a new GM brings in his guy.

Nevertheless this was a noble gesture by Philbin to “fall on the sword” and I wonder how many other head coaches would be willing to do such a thing–besides Munchak that is.