Miami's Next HC - is Mike McDaniel! (4 yr contract)

He's funny, but I'm not sure if that's going to play well with players and staff when **** hits the fan and he needs to lead them through adversity. For example that's what I loved about Flores. If this team gets into a 7 game slump do you trust McDaniel to turn things around and rally the troops like Flores did?

 

Correct me here, but the defense struggled as the team went to 1-7, right? Then Flo took over and went back to the aggressive Cover 0? So, what value do these left-over defensive guys bring? They didn't get it done until Flores changed things up for them.

What am I missing here?

 

This was my exact post on January 4th, 2016 when Gase was emerging as a frontrunner:

"
I think that Adam Gase is the most polarizing name on our coaching list, and I think it is time that we have a big boy conversation about him. Instead of having "little boy" chat about him saying you like him or you don't like him, I want this thread to be exclusively for "big boys". You need to discuss specifically what you like or dislike about him. "Big boy talk" will use statistics and data to make their assertions. "Big boy talk" will not just simply regurgitate what the talking heads from ESPN say.

I will get the ball started. I think hiring Gase would be an absolute mistake. Gase became the hot name last last season after his second year as an offensive coordinator. Manning, a top 5 all-time quarterback, finished the season with a quarterback rating of over 100 for the 6th time in his career. His team included: D. Thomas, E. Sanders, J. Thomas - all elite receiving talent. It is interesting to note that Manning's long time offensive coordinator Tom Moore, despite all of his success with Manning never received a head coaching gig, likely because the insiders knew that Manning was the real talent. What makes Gase any different from Moore? Moore had more sustained success but his name does not seem to be nearly as hot.

Eventually, Gase was fired along with the entire Fox regime by Denver after they failed to win a Super Bowl. Gase was linked to the job, but Elway chose not to hire him. This is quite telling.

This year, Gase went to Chicago where the Bears finished with a 6-10 record. In terms of talent level, the Bears were no where near what the Broncos have. The talent in Chicago is much more similar to the talent in Miami than the talent in Denver. Let's see how the Bears compared to the Dolphins this year:

Points per game:
MIA - 19.4 (27th)
CHI - 20.9 (23rd)

Rushing yards per game:
MIA - 93.5 (23rd)
CHI - 115.7 (11th)

Passing yards per game:
MIA - 238.2 (19th)
CHI - 228.9 (23rd)

Total yards per game:
MIA 331.7 (26th)
CHI 344.6 (21st)

Passer rating:
RT - 88.7 (21st)
Cutler - 92.3 (16th)

With the exception of rushing yards, Gase's numbers are rather pedestrian. Remember, the level of talent he will inherit in Miami will be much closer to that of Chicago than that of Denver. Currently, we do not know what the future holds for Miller, and there is a chance that Ajayi may be our starting running back next year. Ajayi has shown promise, but as far the consistency and reliability of Matt Forte who was number 11 in rushing this year despite missing games, Ajayi simply cannot compare at this moment.

Additionally, Gase lacks in experience. You have a very small sample size with him as an offensive coordinator with only three years to look at. He is only 37 years old, and I wonder if he is capable of keeping the locker room together if the season starts out shaky.

Ultimately, I ask Gase supporters, "What specifically makes you think Gase will work?" Do you think our roster is closer to the Broncos than the Bears? If so, hiring him makes sense. Do you think RT is as good as Payton Manning, and he is vastly underachieving? If so, hiring him makes sense. Do you think E. Sanders, D. Thomas, and J. Thomas are comparable to Landry, Mathews, and Cameron or are they closer to Jeffrey, Bennett, and Royal? If you think that we essentially have the Broncos' offense, hiring him makes sense. If you take an honest look at our roster, I think most would agree it is much closer to Chicago's.

Finally, if we look at Gase's most recent performance in (6-10) Chicago in isolation, I ask you, is he closer to being the next coach of the Miami Dolphins or closer to getting fired? Remember, he is the offensive coordinator.

23rd in points per game (bottom third of the league - almost in the bottom quarter), 11th in rushing (approximately in the top third), 23rd in passing yards per game (bottom third almost in the bottom quarter), 21st in total yards (middle third), Cutler's passing rating is 16th (top half of the league).

If I am wrong, please explain to me how I am wrong. Don't just tell me you like him, tell me what about him you like. If I am missing something, I would gladly rethink my position, but right now, this looks like such an obviously bad hire."

 

If this is true we hit the jackpot. Our defense is decent, our offense has been bad the last 20 years. Really hope to see a good offense finally.

 

Nobody wants this job. Oh, wait...

 

There seems to be some dispute about whether that actually happened

 

Can we keep Flo to call the plays on defense?

 

I think the Deebo comparison some folks try to make are off-base, but I do think he is an interesting talent. I definitely look forward to seeing how McDaniel harnesses some of the unique talent on the team. I don't look for him to make a Deebo 2.0, but I think guys like Waddle, Bowden, Giesicki can have expanded roles and thrive as playmakers. I'd also look for perhaps the maligned Hunter Long to make a small splash at times.

I am also interested to see how he revamps the OL what kind of OL staff he brings in. I'm not sure how well our current group match that running scheme.

 

Tell me you missed the winking emoji, without telling me you missed the winking emoji.

I was just messing around, sorry for the confusion. I just needed an excited post to make my joke and happened to use yours.

 

hahahaahaha, I am a few celebratory beers deep. I missed the winky.

 

Given the circumstances, McDaniel was the best potential hire outside of Harbaugh. I'm optimistic about what he can do with Tua and I'm optimistic that the defense can replicate the 2nd half of 2021. If both those things happen, this is a playoff team at the very minimum. So I think we're back on that path- playoffs or bust (at least for Grier).

However, I hope we're not done shuffling the deck and Ross ends up selling the team. He's still get credit for assembling this group, yet he wouldn't be in the way to stop us hiring quality assistants either. For the love of God, get a quality line coach!

 

Sounds like we might make a run at Fangio if he is interested in being a DC this year. If not, probably Boyer.

 

Wouldn’t mind seeing Fangio as DC if Boyer doesn’t stay….


Guess Jerry Jones is happy today

 

Seems like Flo wanted to run it all himself, I really like that McDaniel sees value in having vet coaches to lean on; they know how to train guys and he can turn to them for advice as needed. I'd hope Ross would open the checkbook and be willing to pay top dollar for the best coaching staff possible at this point.

A good OL coach... can you imagine?

 

Yeah, what this tells me is Grier is still calling the shots and running the team. McDaniel is basically being brought in as an OC/HC and being told to keep the defense as is.

 

OL being competent is obviously huge. There's a chance that our current OL has players who are better fits for outside zone than their current roles. They don't appear to be very athletic, but maybe that's because of what the current coaches and training staff demanded from them. Regardless, our current group didn't match the scheme we wanted them to run, either.

The Falcons utilized OZ in their Super Bowl season and Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman thrived. The next season they veered away and both struggled, even though they ostensibly used Shanahan's playbook. McDaniel's going to look for athletic OL and running backs with good eyes and timing. I think Ahmed fits that description and I suspect OZ will be a much better scheme for Gaskin. I see Duke being a much better north-south back, though.

Let the fun begin.

 

It tells me two things:

1. Ross doesn't want to pay coaches while they're working elsewhere
2. Grier is interested in keeping the defensive players happy by keeping coaches they're familiar with

The biggest concern is how the defensive personnel that's still under contract fits the new DC's scheme.

 

Decent hire. There wasn't much out there but Ross didn't do the worst thing, I guess that is a win. We will see. Probablly will be right back here in two years but at least this Hc has a room temp IQ. Probably will have to suffer with the BB Gun for another year, but I suspect McD will learn pretty quickly that ole Tuba should be thrown out with the dirty towels as soon as there is a better option.

 

The only thing about the hire is the fact that, at this point, I expect Ross to screw up. Any slam dunk under him has (and probably will) backfire and even when we do something that I like, I know from experience, we should have done something else.

 

I had the same thought.

 

With as jacked up as the entire Dolphins organization has been for the last 20 years, I’m taking a we’ll see look at this hire.

 

Well he’s walking into a situation with a QB who can’t stay healthy and has limitations that a gimmick offense had to be designed around that.

Now couple that with an incompetent GM has completely failed building an OL and is nowhere near as good as Lynch. Either way, he’s our HC now, for better or worse.

 

As Dave Hyde points out, no other HC needy team even interviewed the guy. Are we to believe that Ross and Grier know something that everybody else missed? Is anybody going to believe that?

 

You're supposing he didn't turn down any opportunities. Glass is half full for some of us; half empty for the rest.

 

Would you have really felt better about Kellen Moore because he got a number of interviews?

Sooner or later he was going to be a hot candidate. Miami wasn't raiding a dumpster.

 

Thanks for the insight brah. Hang out anytime, mostly positive place. We enjoy hearing from other teams fans.