The Miami Dolphins have named Mike McDaniel of Aurora, Colorado as the new head coach according to the Associated Press on Sunday. McDaniel takes over from Brian Flores, who has controversially decided to sue the Dolphins “for racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers” since he was fired at the end of the regular season. It should be noted that McDaniel is biracial.
McDaniel is 38 years old and has experience with the Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers. He was an intern with the Broncos in 2005, as he was hired by Mike Shanahan to help out the Broncos in his home state of Colorado. From there he was an offensive assistant for three seasons with the Texans from 2006 to 2008, an offensive assistant with the Redskins from 2011 to 2012, a wide receivers coach with the Redskins in 2013, a wide receivers coach with the Browns in 2014, an offensive assistant with the Falcons in 2015 and 2016, the run game co-ordinator with the 49ers from 2017 to 2020, and the offensive co-ordinator with the Dolphins in 2021.
The 49ers had a strong season in 2021. They had a record of 10 wins and seven losses in the regular season, and then upset the Dallas Cowboys 23-17 in the NFC Wildcard and then the Green Bay Packers 13-10 in the NFC Divisional Playoff, before losing 20-17 to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship.
It should be noted that Miami only had one fewer win than San Francisco in the regular season and that Flores was fired even though Miami had a seven-game winning streak in 2021. It will be interesting to see if quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo follows McDaniel to Miami. There are rumours that the 49ers and Dolphins might be making quarterback changes for next season.
