Name: Paul Pasqualoni
Title: Defensive Coordinator
College: Penn State
NFL: Fourth Season
Dolphins: First Season

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Paul Pasqualoni was named the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator on January 23, 2008. He spent the past three years with the Dallas Cowboys (2005-07), the first as tight ends coach and the past two tutoring the team’s linebackers.

In Pasqualoni’s lone season as tight ends coach, Jason Witten caught 66 passes for 757 yards and six touchdowns, as he was named to the NFC Pro Bowl squad. In 2006, three of the Cowboys’ top four tacklers were linebackers, while two of the team’s top three tacklers in 2007 were linebackers. DeMarcus Ware, a first-round draft choice of the team in 2005, was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his two seasons under Pasqualoni’s tutelage. He totaled 25.5 sacks over the last two years, including 14 in 2007, a figure that tied for third in the NFL and was tops among NFL linebackers. In addition, Bradie James, a fourth-round draft choice in 2003, surpassed the 100-tackle mark the last two seasons.

Prior to entering the NFL ranks, Pasqualoni spent the previous 29 seasons as a coach at the collegiate level, including 1991-2004 when he was the head coach at Syracuse University. In his 14 years in that post, the Orange registered a composite record of 107-59-1 and made nine bowl appearances. They claimed three straight Big East titles, from 1996-98, and were conference co-champions in 2004. With Pasqualoni as head coach, Syracuse had 17 players selected over the first three rounds of the NFL draft, a list which includes Pro Bowl players such as wide receiver Marvin Harrison, defensive end Dwight Freeney, quarterback Donovan McNabb and linebacker Keith Bulluck. Prior to taking over the head coaching spot at Syracuse, Pasqualoni was the school’s linebackers coach from 1987-90. Overall in his 18 years there, the Orange produced 16 winning records and played in 13 bowl games.

Before his stint at Syracuse, Pasqualoni was the head coach/athletic director at Western Connecticut State from 1982-86, during which time the school put together a record of 34-17. His 1985 team went 10-2, won the New England Football Conference championship and earned a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs. In 2001, Pasqualoni was enshrined into Western Connecticut’s Hall of Fame, where he was part of the school’s inaugural class.

A linebacker at Penn Sate from 1968-71, Pasqualoni, began his coaching career at his high school alma mater, Cheshire (Conn.) High, from 1972-75. He got his first collegiate position at Southern Connecticut State in 1976, and spent the next six years at the school, including the final two as defensive coordinator. Pasqualoni earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Penn State and his master’s of science degree in physical education and human performance at Southern Connecticut State. He and his wife, Jill, have two sons, Dante and Tito, and a daughter, Cami.