If compliments equated Super Bowl victories, then we will be champions for many years to come.
This week, Mike McDaniel has been called an innovative genius more times than even Albert Einstein. His knowledge of X’s and O’s, the way he inspires players, the plays he draws up…all you hear about is what a can’t-miss coach we have here.
Unfortunately, we heard the same exact things about Flores and Gase and Philbin. Unfortunately, McDaniel has zero experience. Perhaps the lack of experience is forgiveable if he comes from a juggernaut program where he at least helped a team--if not led–to a Super Bowl. But no. His whole career has been on infamously losing teams like the Falcons’ Super Bowl and the 49ers recent NFC title loss. You would think his “genius” would shine in at least ONE important game, right?
It’s mind-blowing and baffling why Stephen Ross–yet again–chose to promote a coordinator from somewhere else to the Dolphins’ top job. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me 4 times in a row…that’s Mr. Ross. It’s just getting too easy.
McDaniel’s personality is absolutely grating on me. His “What’s up, Bro? Dang, dude, that’s a killer question you just asked me, man” mentality reminds me of high school. I can’t believe an adult talks that way.
“If you’re not fired up, check your pulse” was his first official quote the other day as the Miami Dolphins Head Coach. For real. I’m not making it up.
Well, I did check my pulse, but I’m not fired up. You see, coach, unlike Stephen Ross, personnel decisions do not fire me up. Wins do. You have zero accomplishments as the Dolphins head coach to get fired up about, and you barely have any accomplishments in your other experience as an assistant elsewhere. So forgive us if we’re not fired up by your rah rah attitude.
He seems like the type of guy who will chest bump Christian Wilkins after a play rather than just move on and get ready for the next. I think his personality will be loved by some players and ostricized by others.
He already said he will look forward to working with Tua. But what the hell else is he supposed to say?
Okay….so all that being said, I can tell you that there is something here that makes me have more confidence than I had with Gase and Flores. Something about this guy waiting in the wings and NOW letting it all fly loose. NOW he can make decisions without Kyle Shanahan overruling him, for example. Behind all his “dudes” and “bro” and “my man,” perhaps there really is a good coaching mind. Let’s hope.
Head coaching is a lot more than Xs and Os. I’ll pretend and believe he makes major improvements to our offense. He’s gonna make tons of game management mistakes and the fact that he hasn’t called plays ever will mean even more of a learning curve. We might get lucky but best case scenario is playoffs in 3rd year. Most likely the whole front office will be gone after him.
I’m really really tired of the learning curve for our coaches, but….one good thing is that even seasoned champion coaches make blunders. Andy Reid blew the AFC title game right before halftime by getting greedy and then doubling down and calling a bad play on top of that. 4 seconds is plenty of time for a quick-strike TD attempt. I liked that decision actually. But to throw a screen in the open field? Thank you, said the Bengals.
McDermott in Buffalo kicked it through the endzone with 13 seconds left or else the Bills would be in the Super Bowl.
These are major, championship-losing decisions made by veteran coaches, so maybe Brian Flores calling a timeout to help Urban Meyer isn’t so bad after all.
Speaking of Flores, it doesn’t sound like he’s going away any time soon! The Houston Texans stayed in-house and promoted Lovey Smith, a man with Super Bowl experience and a long distinguished record…but Flores is still piping off because Lovie got the job instead of him!
Be careful, because whoever you hire, Brian Flores and his lawyers will issue an opinion about it and they’ll go to the media with it!
I’ve seen reports about the Dolphins “strongly encouraging” Mike McDaniel to retain much of the defensive staff. I think it’s extremely rare for a new coach to keep his predecessor’s choices lying around, but it COULD happen. Do we want it to happen?
Once the defense found its groove around week 7 or 8, they played outstanding football. I think Josh Boyer certainly turned things around and the defensive players bought in. You won’t hear me say this much, but I think they should keep him. Let McDaniel look at the tape. I hope he sees that our defense is in a mode of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Leave things on defense alone, and work on that offensive line.
What do you guys think??
I don’t know what to think of this hiring. He may be a football savant but can he lead a large group of alpha males? I don’t really care that he will relate well to the media. I just want to see W’s for this team. Also if in 3 or 4 seasons we are doing another coaching search, can we finally fire Grier? Isn’t doing the same thing over and over again the definition of insanity?
And Ross hiring someone else’s assistant to come in and be our head man…4 times in a row. Now is that insanity?
It’s funny that you mention the media, because Bill Belichick is notoriously rude to the media, but he is a smart, effective coach, which is the only thing that matters.
I’m warming up to McDaniel as this week goes by. He seems to have things planned. I think his confidence is a good thing.
It’s his first big decision for sure with regards to defense staff. Not sure how much of defense was Flores vs how much Boyer can replicate but any amount of continuity can help. Best case scenario is defense plays like they did last year then we’re already close to the playoffs and we’ll see how much McDaniel can do on offense.
Now that I’ve had more time this is probably the best hire we could’ve had outside of Harbaugh (well who knew if he was really available) and Pederson. But I’m not getting my hopes up after living through Philbin and Gase!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvpbp9teMPk
Long video of today’s OFFICIAL announcement of Mike McDaniel
I’m really glad to see Wes Welker coming on board to coach the WR. I hated it when we let him leave for the Patriots.
Wes welker coaching Waddle is great
I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED to learn that Welker had only ONE td reception as a Dolphin. I know he came before Hartline and Bess, but it seemed like Welker was around longer and surely had a bunch of TDs. NOPE !
Admin- I am shocked too, but not surprised. I’m sure we had a shit quarterback then. I’m too lazy to look it up.
I’m catching up to the news that Wes Welker is with the Dolphins again!!!! He was ripped out from under us before we knew it and as a fan loathed every minute of that trade! He’s back as a coach and I’m actually a bit giddy about it.
Admin, I was a bit skeptical myself with the hire-bec Ross and Grier are the two most incompetent tandems in the NFL and they have yet to hire an impressive HC…But even idiots can run into good luck. I feel Coach McDaniel without question has the brains to figure things out but also has the confidence in his guts needed as well. So far he’s putting together his coaching staff with precision and for the moment, I couldn’t ask for more from the guy. I do like his quirkiness bec it is a refreshingly new view from the usual head coaching paradewe’ve had ever. I feel the kudos he’s received from other head coaches is pretty darn impressive. I have listened carefully to his presser and other interviews and I like what I hear so far about his philosophy with plays, players and the game as a whole moving part. I hope the players get into the McDaniel groove and allow him to bring what he’s learned along his way to SoFlo…maybe just maybe, Tua will be the QB we thought we were going to have
McDaniel reminds me of the Gase hire. Big brain smarts but zero gut smarts. The latter is the difference maker for successful coaches. So color me un-impressed. I also did not like all of his Ross stroking and boot licking statements.
He does seem to be a different personality than Gase, so on that difference, maybe we can hang some hope.
The potential good thing is that he does not seem, thus far, to be a my way or the highway type. If this is true then he will listen to his other coaches instead of not speaking to anyone for a month.
Admiin I was in Mexico and couldn’t even get your site on my cell or tether to my tablet. Not sure why?
Anyway, I don’t mind the hire. We can’t link this HC to idiots like Gase it’s unfair. Gase worked with Manning who has MM worked with pornstar Jimmy? In other words he had to work hard for his points and the big thing is that he understands the importance of the run game especially in the playoffs. The niners aren’t anything special and help take them to the NFC championship game. Falcons too and hopefully learned that lesson that when up run the damn ball and kill clock. Either way can’t get any worse than Gase or Philbum it’s virtually impossible!
As per the D we’ll see how it goes will know in game one if Boyer was the guy or not. They’ll add a few more pieces so hard not to improve it. Need to be better against the better teams.
Tua at least he’ll be given an honest chance. By the sounds of it Flo was on him even during the preseason. Told him they were looking to get Watson etc…how the heck is a young QB supposed to prosper in that atmosphere. IMO Flo can rot for doing that he may as well have come out and smashed the kids ribs himself….
Yeah, I’m still fighting with my ISP. I keep telling them that people from all over report the site is not responding, and it happens to me as well. All they ever say is “refresh your screen” or “It works fine on our end” I don’t understand!
Anyway, I don’t doubt the innovation of Mike McDaniel. But I’m concerned about the overall decision making. There is NO track record of him gradually being tasked with more responsibility. No track record of his superiors allowing him to make decisions on his own.
It’s fine if he can design a super complex trick play to get us a first down. But what about when we’re on defense on the opponent is driving inside of 2 minutes in a close game? Will he know the proper defense to call? Will he know when to call a time out, or when not to? Will he get inside the head of the opponent and properly anticipate their own strategy? These things takes years and years of head coaching experience.
Admin, That’s what I mean by “gut” smarts. He does not have them. He also did play football in college or pros, so I think we are in trouble.
The main thing that I think may be good about him is that he is from the K Shanahan group. None of these guys have been a complete failure, like Gase or Philbin.
True. But he was always a low-ranking member of those groups, and never a main man. Ross loves promoting someone else’s underlings. All we can do is hope this one is the exception to break Ross’s horrid track record.
Oh I definitely see your point but I want to keep hope alive. AT LEAST GIVE ME THAT.
Yes, the Alive Hope is good to hold onto, especially after watching two very very young coaches make it to the Super Bowl.
Am I the only fan on here a bit excited about how refreshingly different this new coach is? By different, he’s not the typical coach 55+ and possibly stuck in some of his coaching ways of thinking. Looking at some of the youngest HC’s, I see a lot of commonalities and I’m looking forward to seeing the new Miami Dolphins. Ross is still an a$$ and Grier right up his a$$, so that hasn’t changed. Listening to Ross’s introduction of McDaniel at the press conference what embarrassing! He couldn’t speak! Stumbling over finding words that made any sense! Literally, sounded like a buffoon! This is a billionaire who owns an NFL franchise?? That’s more worrisome than a new coach with less credentials than you may want but has a lot of good references by coaches/players, who he has the power to fire! Because Ross doesn’t appear to be going anyplace unless there is positive credible evidence of offering $100K to lose games. So I’m going to embrace the hire, wear some black rimmed glasses and support this guy. I have listened to as much content as I can about him and his media interviews and I do like what I have heard on his game theory. We shall see what it translates to the play on the field. But IMO, he’s lights out smart. All thoughts are welcome.
I mean all you are feeling is shared but its hard to get too excited given we been down the rabbit-hole of an inexperienced coach before and we are all gun shy. We had these big hopes before and got trashed on. But yes, with his hires and some very informative video reviews about how innovative he is is encouraging.
Yeah, I have been fooled before !
I totally agree the team and fans have “been there way too many times”. This is a we will see again, I know, but the biggest problem this team has….
a crappy owner who should be removed.