Cam Cameron's Lineage Has Prepared Him

Cam Cameron, newly hired coach of the Miami Dolphins, gestures as he talks to reporters during a news conference in Davie, Fla., Friday, Jan. 19, 2007. Cameron was the San Diego Chargers' offensive coordinator the past five seasons. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) (Alan Diaz - AP)

DAVIE, Fla. -- Cam Cameron's first coaching victory, of sorts, came against Bob Knight. Cameron played basketball for Knight at Indiana, where he also was quarterback in the early 1980s. One day, as Knight put Michael Jordan and the 1984 U.S. Olympic team through practice, Cameron said he wanted to be a coach.

Knight, now the coach at Texas Tech, had other plans.

"You're too smart to coach. You're not coaching," Cameron recalls Knight saying. "You're going to law school. ... You get your law degree and after that we'll talk about you coaching."

But Knight eventually gave in and helped the reserve guard get a graduate assistant position with Bo Schembechler at Michigan, an assist that Cameron says was the one that truly started his coaching career. And now, a quarter-century later, Cameron is the new coach of the Miami Dolphins, who believe he can take the lessons learned from Knight, Schembechler and others and make the franchise a winner again.

The Dolphins hired Cameron on Friday, giving him a four-year contract to replace Nick Saban, who quit to take over at Alabama.

"He's a great motivator," said San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, who starred in Cameron's offense with the Chargers, where the new Dolphins coach spent the past five seasons turning San Diego into an offensive juggernaut. "He has a great understanding of the game in all phases. He really has the demeanor about him that exudes a lot of confidence."

With one look at Cameron's resume, it's easy to see where that confidence comes from.

He's either played for, worked with or studied under some great coaches, including Knight, Schembechler, Marty Schottenheimer with the Chargers, Lee Corso and Sam Wyche at Indiana, even former Dallas coach Tom Landry. Cameron spent time as a college assistant going to Cowboys' training camp to study their system.

"You won't find three tougher men, guys that are mentally tough, than you would of Bo Schembechler, Bob Knight and Marty Schottenheimer," Cameron said. "It's a tough business, whether it be pro football or big-time college basketball. ... To be able to be tutored by those men, I don't think it can get any better than that."

Plus, Cameron began having coaching philosophies instilled in him as a kid.

When his stepfather, Tom Harp, coached at Indiana State in the 1970s the two would often have long strategy sessions _ occasionally using the other as a blocking dummy while demonstrating their respective schemes.

"I knew I wanted to coach when I was probably 14 years old," Cameron said.