Debating when McDaniel should have been fired
Mike Florio and Michael Holley debate when the Miami Dolphins should have fired head coach Mike McDaniel given, they fired their general manager during the season.
Video Transcript
What's the point in talking about the owners who know what they're doing?
There's so much to talk about as it relates to the owners who don't.
And that brings us back to the Dolphins.
And, hey, That Friday morning back in late October, early November, it's all one big blur to me at this point, but after that loss to the Baltimore Ravens, the decision to do something, Let's fire the GM.
Should have fired the head coach then.
Should have embarked on the searches then for GM and coach.
And you can do a lot by way of getting things ready to go so you can move expeditiously once.
The season ends to get your GM, get your coach, but that's where they are now.
They're a couple of months into their GM process, which reportedly is coming to a head.
Sooner than later, and then they're going to have to start their head coaching process.
So... And we'll see.
And you said something, One last point.
You said, and this is absolutely true.
This is the way it works.
The exact opposite of the personality of the coach who failed is the kind of person they're going to be looking for the next time around.
And then, when that person fails, They're going to ping-pong back to the other personality type.
It happens almost like clockwork.
Look for someone when the ultimate hire is made.
To be the exact opposite of Mike McDaniel from a personality and approach, and just Player-friendly or taskmaster, one or the other.
It always goes back and forth.
Flores to McDaniel.
Now it's going to go back to someone like Flores, or somebody like Belichick.
And then, when that fails, it'll go back to a player-friendly guy.
More and more of the teams do that because that's the cycle they've fallen into.
Well, two things on this, Mike.
One, I, I know we're... Well, I don't want to presume.
I don't want to, I don't want to count your money for you.
But maybe you haven't made it to billionaire status yet.
I haven't made it.
I'm so close, but I haven't made it yet.
Billionaire status.
Hang on.
Let me check.
Let me check.
Let me check.
Yeah.
Let me check.
Just check, check.
Check.
You haven't checked Yeah.
You haven't checked the, uh, the, uh, the, uh, the portfolio today.
But, you know, we're inching closer there.
But I know...
I just look at it.
When I heard Dan Campbell, for example, say, a couple of days ago, He says, "It's going to drive me crazy to watch the playoffs."
But I have to do it.
It's going to drive me crazy.
"I hate that we're not in the playoffs."
I feel like these owners, I know they have so much money, but it really would bug me as an owner.
If I'm sitting there watching, okay, there are the Rooneys again in the playoffs.
Oh, the Krafts, they already got six Super Bowls.
How many damn Super Bowls do they need?
They're back in there.
Oh, the Yorks, here we go.
They're in the playoffs.
What about me?
It would drive me crazy to sit there year after Yeah, and watch my peers, 'cause it's peer pressure.
I, I...
It would drive me crazy to watch my peers.
Enjoying the playoffs, and I'm sitting there trying to figure out why we were 7-10.
That's one.
But two, I wonder, you know, you... Because we talked about that game, that Ravens-Dolphins game, that 28-6, Lamar Jackson goes back home and does well against the Dolphins.
And then Chris Grier is out.
I think, I don't think it was a guarantee at That moment that Mike McDaniel was gonna be out, and they went on their little winning streak.
And it was competitive.
I think what got him is the exit interviews.
I don't think it was the, I don't think it was Harbaugh, uh.
Becoming available and Stephen Ross saying, "Wait a minute.
We got our coach and John Harbaugh is available?
Get him out of there.
"We can clear the decks."
It was, he moved on from Tua.
Tua is the reason he was comfortable on the job because, "I'm the guy who can unlock Tua."
Then Tua, that... Where he walked away from Tua at the end.
I bet you a lot of guys had something to say, and I don't know what the relationship is.
Between Stephen Ross and Tua Tagovailoa, but if he... Let's say he respects him.
He respects him as a man, and maybe not as a quarterback.
I could imagine, just imagine, some of the things that were said about Mike McDaniel at the end of the 2025 season.
I think that really...
I think that sealed the deal for him.
I think that and, And per- per- perhaps the Pittsburgh game too didn't, didn't look so good.
But I think he was...
I think he had a shot until, Like, the last couple of weeks of the season.
Well, when you mentioned exit interviews, I first thought you were talking about the sit-down that inevitably occurred between Stephen Ross and Mike McDaniel.
Because for all of the genius that Mike McDaniel has shown as a coach.
The one constructive criticism I would have for him, Inspired by the excellent Broadway show, Hamilton.
Talk less, smile more.
And for Mike McDaniel, it would be to talk a lot less.
Yeah.
A lot less.
That's rare.
At first, it's charming.
Really.
It's engaging because it's different.
After a couple of years of it, it's a little too much.
And I'm sorry that I'm being that candid, but I know that's the feeling I experience.
Like, at first, it's a breath of fresh air.
Nobody talks like this.
Nobody is this open.
Nobody is this just borderline quirky enough, Just different from what we're used to seeing.
It's not the normal coach speak.
But after a while, it can wear you out.
Hey, dude.
It's a simple question.
What do you want for lunch?
Doesn't require a 15-minute answer.
Right?
And I want this on the side.
That may... That may have contributed.
Here is Cat.
That may, that may have contributed to the final analysis.
And look, they finally got to where they should've been, and who knows where they'll go.
From here.
