Dolphins hire Adam Gase as head coach

The Miami Dolphins officially have a new leader.

Adam Gase will be introduced as the ninth full-time head coach in team history at a press conference Saturday afternoon.

"We did exhaustive research on all of the candidates ahead of time and conducted thorough and detailed interviews with each person," Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. "In the end, I was convinced and the search committee was unanimous Adam was the right leader for our football team who best met all of our priorities. He has high energy, is competitive and driven to win with a mindset of teaching and developing players."

The now-former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator was widely considered one of the league's most promising young coaches for the past few seasons, and it wasn't long before he emerged as the clear front-runner in Miami.

Gase's success working with quarterbacks in Chicago and Denver makes him a strong addition to further the development of Ryan Tannehill.

As the first head coach hired this offseason, he'll also have a considerable edge over the rest of the league's new hires in putting together a strong staff.

One significant position on that staff already appears to be spoken for, as Gase is expected to hire Bengals assistant Vance Joseph as his defensive coordinator, reports Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

At just 37 years old, Gase becomes the youngest coach in the NFL. Taking over a talented roster, he'll be expected to waste little time in getting Miami back to the playoffs for the first time since 2008.