Mike McDaniel will call plays, says no ‘red flags’ with Dolphins

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Mike McDaniel said he will call offensive plays in his first season as the Dolphins’ head coach, something he didn’t do as offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.

McDaniel revealed that during a wide-ranging introductory news conference Thursday morning, adding that he would rely heavily on a coaching staff that he is still building.

The 38-year-old Yale grad also called his first head coaching opportunity his “dream job” and said there were no “red flags” raised to him about the job after coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit.

Here are some more of the highlights from the news conference:

On his personality, which a reporter referred to as “fun”:

“I didn’t know I was fun. That’s fun to hear,” he said.

“People can smell when you’re trying to be something you’re not. And people respect when you are who you are.”

He also stressed that being entertaining and interesting is key in teaching and coaching athletes in this age of short attention spans.

On being a head coach for the first time:

“Every single head coach in the history of football has never been a head coach until they are a head coach.”

His takeaways from watching film of the Dolphins before taking the job:

“What I saw was a defense I didn’t want to go against.”

He also brought up the Dolphins whipping his 49ers, 43-17, in 2020.

On identifying as multiracial:

“I identity as a human being and my dad is Black,” McDaniel said. “It’s weird that it comes up because I’ve just tried to be a good person.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t have any real experience with racism personally but that his mother experienced it when she married his father, and that his dad experienced it.

On whether there were any “red flags” raised by former Dolphins coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit:

“I can honestly say that there was absolutely no red flags,” McDaniel said.

He said he came away impressed with both team owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier.

Ross said McDaniel will report to Grier, who reports to Ross.

McDaniel gushed about the Dolphins’ facilities, comparing them to “an SEC school.”

McDaniel also noted that his recruitment for the job was unique in that he didn’t get a ton of interviews from other teams. The fact that the Dolphins targeted him before he got widespread interest around the league made him want this job more, he said.

Ross and Grier each made statements before McDaniel was introduced but they did not take questions from the media.

“I look forward to continuing this collaboration and hoping that we are winning our division and going on to much better glory,” Ross said.

Grier said Ross stressed patience as they sorted through a number of candidates for the job.

“We talked to many many very qualified candidates for this job in both pro and college football,” Grier said. “What resonated with us was how excited everyone was for this job. Even in the last two weeks, there were people that were calling trying to get into this job. Steve was very calculated and made sure that we didn’t rush this process. There were times when I was like, let’s go, let’s push this forward and Steve was, ‘Hey, let’s make sure we do this as thoroughly and correctly as we can.’”