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Thomas Chandler Gailey Jr. (born January 5, 1952) is an American former football coach. Most recently in 2020, he was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). Gailey has previously served as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and Buffalo Bills from 1998 to 2012.
In a coaching career spanning 46 years, Gailey began his NFL career as part of Dan Reeves' coaching staff on the Denver Broncos from 1985 to 1990, appearing in Super Bowls XXI, XXII, and XXIV with the Broncos. Gailey was on the Pittsburgh Steelers staff from 1994 to 1997 when the Steelers won four straight AFC Central titles and coached in one Super Bowl (XXX). He held his first professional head coach position in 1998, when he became the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, and led the Cowboys to playoff appearances in each of his 2 seasons in Dallas. Gailey served as offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins in 2000 and 2001, when the Dolphins posted consecutive 11–5 records, and was part of the 2000 Dolphins squad which was the last time the team had won a playoff game. Gailey served as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 and three games of the 2009 preseason. In 2010, he was hired as the new head coach of the Buffalo Bills, where he coached until 2012. Three years after his firing from the Bills, he served as the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets from 2015 to 2016. In 2020, Gailey came out of retirement to again serve as the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, where he would last for only a season before resigning on January 6, 2021.
Gailey attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a three-year letterman for coach Doug Dickey's Florida Gators football team as a quarterback from 1971 to 1973. 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide , University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 174 & 181 (2011). Retrieved August 29, 2011. Gailey graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1974.
In 1983, Gailey made his way back to Troy, taking over the head coaching duties at Troy University. In his first season as head coach, he led the Troy Trojans to a 7–4 overall record. In his second season at the helm in 1984, he led his #3-ranked Troy Trojans to a 12–1 record en route to the NCAA Division II national championship, defeating #1-ranked North Dakota State, 18–17 to win the title.[2]
After a one-year stint as head coach at Samford University, he returned to the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After starting off as coach for the , then moved up to offensive coordinator for the 1996 and 1997 NFL seasons. The Steelers won their division all four years, and made one Super Bowl appearance.
On February 13, 1998, Gailey was hired to take over a struggling Dallas Cowboys squad (as operated by Jerry Jones), one that had faltered under Barry Switzer during his last season. Other candidates considered in the course of five weeks were George Seifert, Sherman Lewis, and Terry Donahue, with the latter being the closest to being hired before disagreeing with Jones about contract language that opened the door for Gailey. Notably in the leadup to the season, Gailey expressed his opinion to the Cowboys to not draft Randy Moss in the 1998 NFL draft due to perceived off-field issues. Gailey's Cowboys won the NFC East in 1998, winning all eight games against teams in their division. This would come back to haunt them when they played the Arizona Cardinals, who happened to squeak into the playoffs as a Wild Card team despite losing to their division rival twice. Arizona trounced Dallas 20-7 for not only the first home playoff loss for the Cowboys in six years but also their first playoff win in a half-century. The Cowboys, hindered by injuries to players such as Michael Irvin (who suffered a career-ending injury midway through the year) went 8–8 in 1999 after starting the season 3–0, losing seven of eight games decided by a touchdown. They made the playoffs but lost to Minnesota. He was fired on January 12, 2000, three days after the season ended for Dallas with three years remaining on his contract. Gailey is the only Cowboys coach to have never missed the playoffs with his team. Gailey is also sometimes referred to by fans as "the forgotten coach" of Dallas. Jones later stated his regret at firing Gailey after two seasons.
Gailey returned to the offensive coordinator role, this time with the Miami Dolphins for the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
Gailey's name was mentioned for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins head-coaching jobs following the 2006 season, two teams for which he was offensive coordinator. Gailey got neither job. On January 19, 2007, Gailey announced he would return to Georgia Tech.
After a 7–5 2007 regular season and losing to the Georgia Bulldogs football team for the sixth straight year, it was announced on November 26, 2007, that Gailey had been dismissed and his $1 million/year contract bought out.
On December 31, 2012, Gailey was relieved of his duties as the Bills' head coach. He amassed a career 16–32 record in Buffalo.
In his first season, the Jets finished with the 10th-ranked offense in the league. They finished 13th in the league in passing and 10th in rushing. Through Week 14 of the 2016 season, the Jets had the 24th-ranked offense in the league. Following the 2016 season in which the Jets ranked near the bottom of the league in offense and finished 5–11, Gailey retired on January 3, 2017.
!BUF | 2010 | 4||12||0||.250||4th in AFC East|| – || – || – | – |
!BUF | 2011 | 6||10||0||.375||4th in AFC East|| – || – || – | – |
!BUF | 2012 | 6||10||0||.375||4th in AFC East|| – || – || – | – |
! colspan="2" | ||
|- |1991 || 5 || 5 || 0 || 1st North American West || Lost Semifinals (Dragons) |- |1992 || 7 || 2 || 1 || 2nd North American West || Lost Semifinals (Orlando Thunder) |- !Totals || 12 || 7 || 1 |colspan="2"| (excluding playoffs)
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