Mike McDaniel becomes 7th consecutive first time Miami Dolphins HC

The Miami Dolphins have a new head coach and maybe a new direction. There is new blood bringing new ideas to Miami. His name is Mike McDaniel.

Many fans are excited about the hiring of McDaniel. He comes from a successful coaching tree that includes both Super Bowl coaches. He also continues a not-so-great tradition with the Dolphins.

McDaniel will be the seventh consecutive head coaching hire that had no previous experience coaching at this level. The most experienced was Nick Saban. The last coach that Miami hired with previous experience was Dave Wannstedt. Wannstedt is also the last coach to post a winning record over his career with Miami.

Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and now, Mike McDaniel. Of the previous six, only Flores was able to put back-to-back winning seasons on his resume. It might earn him the Houston Texans head coaching job. He is one of two remaining finalists for that job.

As for McDaniel, he will have his hands full. His defense is relatively set with quality players at almost every position including young guns like Christian Wilkins, Jevon Holland, and Jaelan Phillips. Offensively, despite the Tua Tagovailoa, Miami has Jaylen Waddle.

McDaniel will need to fix the offensive line, fix the running game, convince Chris Grier to not create a hole at tight end and he will need to fix the receivers who spend more time injured than on the field.

If there is good news, McDaniel may be the guy to fix it. He is well respected around the league and can relate to players. It should make it easy for him to find new additions. The word of caution here, however, would be that we heard this same thing with Adam Gase.

Time will tell if McDaniel is the real deal or if he will be the next in line to be replaced. His contract is for four years. Flores was given 5 years and was gone in three. Losing won’t get McDaniel to four, but winning could get him to more.