Report: Clyde Christensen to become Dolphins offensive coordinator

Earlier tonight, FOX Sports' Alex Marvez reported that Colts quarterback coach Clyde Christensen had interviewed with the Miami Dolphins for their offensive coordinator opening, and it didn't take long to find out more information about how it went.  According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Christensen will indeed become the offensive coordinator in Miami under new head coach Adam Gase, leaving Indianapolis after 14 seasons.

Christensen was brought with Tony Dungy from the Buccaneers to Indianapolis in 2002, as he became the wide receivers coach for the franchise.  Christensen remained the wide receivers coach for eight seasons (2002-2009), assistant head coach for two years (2008-2009), offensive coordinator for two years (2010-2011), and quarterbacks coach for the past four years (2012-2015).  He has been on staff with three different coaches with the Colts, including Chuck Pagano, who opted to keep him on staff when he was hired in 2012.  During Christensen's 14-year tenure in Indianapolis, the team made 12 playoff appearances, won nine division titles, won two AFC championships, and won a Super Bowl.  They had a record-setting offense during that period and Christensen was a part of that, first coaching players such as Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and then taking on a larger role in the offense with more organizational ideas.  He was a good sounding board for Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck, and he was very well-liked in the quarterbacks meeting room.  Just this year, he worked with a number of different quarterbacks and had two guys ready to play just days after being signed, as the team won the regular season finale with Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley under center.  Earlier this year, before the final regular season game, head coach Chuck Pagano called Christensen the "best quarterback coach in the history of the National Football League."

The Colts will now have yet another coach to replace, as Christensen was one of the few that the Colts actually wanted to keep from last year.  He's now leaving to become the offensive coordinator for Adam Gase, however, so the Colts will also be looking for a quarterbacks coach.  It will be the first change at the position that quarterback Andrew Luck has had since he has been with the Colts, despite the fact that he has gone through three different offensive coordinators.  One option for the Colts job would seem to be Frank Reich, who was the team's quarterbacks coach in 2009-2010 and held the same position with the Chargers in 2013 before serving as their offensive coordinator for the past two years.  Of course, there are a number of other candidates that would surely love to coach Andrew Luck, so we'll have to wait and see.  But either way, the Colts will now have to fill yet another coaching staff position, one that they didn't expect to have to fill.

It's a smart hire for Adam Gase, as though the head coach will call plays, it's smart to surround himself with a guy who has been around for a while and has been with an organization that had a lot of great offense.  With Gase being a first-time head coach, bringing in a guy like Christensen as his offensive coordinator makes sense.  It's a nice promotion for a great guy, and hopefully Clyde Christensen has success in Miami after so many tremendous years in Indianapolis.