Introducing the Miami Dolphins' Most Important Positional Coach: Ken O'Keefe

The Miami Dolphins' position battle at wide receiver will be a point of focus headed into training camp, but that's just the beginning for wide receivers coach Ken O'Keefe. In his first year with the Dolphins, O'Keefe will have his work put to the test in the regular season.

He most recently served as the offensive coordinator for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1999-2011. He has coached in the college ranks since 1986, but O'Keefe has no NFL coaching experience and has never coached wide receivers. However, he was a starting receiver at John Carroll University from 1972-74, according to NFL.com.

He was a quarterbacks coach at Iowa, and he can bring a bit of that perspective to the wide receiver spot. His experience playing the position should help somewhat as well.

But he'll have a tall order with a receiving corps that lacks standout talent at present. The Dolphins feature a group of young receivers with potential, and it's up to O'Keefe to maximize that talent, no matter who wins the position battle.

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"The No. 1 criteria I was looking for when we assembled this staff was a guy who was a great leader," [head coach Joe] Philbin said according to The Gazette (Iowa), "and I think Ken O'Keefe is gonna set a great example of professionalism in that room, of how you conduct your business, on the field, off the field. He's been an offensive coordinator and a head coach, so he's got a very good knowledge of offensive football and I think he's gonna do an outstanding job with our wide receivers."

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He served eight years as the head coach of Allegheny, leading the Gators to a 13-0-1 record and the NCAA Division III Championship in his first season.

To say that he has good knowledge of offensive football, though, may be an understatement.

Iowa's offenses were sterling on his watch. They averaged over 210 passing yards per game in all but three of his seasons ('03, '07 and '08) at the helm of the offense. They also averaged over 28 points per game in six of his seasons and over 24 points two more times.

Philbin and Mike Sherman will have their fingerprints all over the development of quarterback Ryan Tannehill, but in terms of pure positional coaches, perhaps none are more important than O'Keefe.

Erik Frenz is the AFC East lead blogger for Bleacher Report. Be sure to follow Erik on Twitter and "like" the AFC East blog on Facebook to keep up with all the updates.