Miami gardens, Fla. The Miami Dolphins unveiled Mike McDaniel as their new head coach at a news conference Thursday, during which the Franchise owner and CEO spoke only about the new hire.
McDaniel was hired Sunday, 27 days after Brian Flores was fired and five days after Flores filed a lawsuit accusing the NFL of systemic racism in its hiring practices, claiming Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him
Ross and CEO Chris Grier didn’t take questions after contacting McDaniel, though the new coach was immediately asked if he saw any warning signs before taking the job.
“I can honestly say there were absolutely no red flags,” McDaniel said. “And the reason I go to an Organization with a boss is because I don’t think people blame you, Stephen Ross. There is no cost too high for him to win. And if you work in several organizations, you find that this is not always the matter.
“The city of Miami is really, really happy to have an owner who, right, wrong or indifferent, cares only about winning, and as a coach, that’s all you’re literally looking for. So red flags? No, there are no Red flags for me.”
McDaniel was hired after a nearly four-week search in which, unlike their previous searches, the Dolphins never announced interviews with candidates.
McDaniel reportedly interviewed with the Dolphins on Friday and was one of two finalists for the job. Dallas Cowboys rude coordinator Kellen Moore was the other.
“We have spoken to many highly qualified candidates for this position in both professional and academic football,” Grier said. “What caught our attention was how excited everyone was for this job. Even in the last couple of weeks, there have been people calling to try to get into this job. Steve was very calculated and made sure that he did not rush into this process. There were times when I said, “Let’s go, let’s go, and Steve said, “Hey, let’s make sure we do it as completely and properly as possible.’”
Ross noticed that when the Dolphins started looking for coaches, his Franchise was looking for someone who would have an impact on the team — which he believed McDaniel would.
“We were looking for leadership, intelligence, innovation and someone who really understands what it takes to win in the long run,” Ross said. “Firstly, he’s probably one of the smartest coaches I’ve spoken to. When you talk to people, the first thing they say about Mike is that he’s innovative, that he’s out of the box. I got called by coaches from his old department to tell me how great he was, and I said, Why are you calling? And they were saying, “really, to get him out of the Division. “It says a lot about a human being and who he is.”
Ross said McDaniel will report to Grier; Grier will continue to report to Ross and Vice President/President/CEO Tom Garfinkel.
McDaniel’s coaching career, which began as an intern with the Denver Broncos, includes three seasons with the Houston Texans when Grier’s father was Bobby.
McDaniel said that agreeing on personnel decisions would not be a problem with Grier, and said his position “as much as I want to talk about, I think.”
One of the most pressing things for McDaniel will be completing his coaching staff. The first two moves included the Dolphins, who hired Jon Embee as an assistant tight ends coach/assistant coach and retained special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, according to a League source.
However, those who get the rude coordinator job won’t be naming coins, since McDaniel said Thursday he will take on those duties with input from his assistants.
