Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel finds a different path to coaching success in the NFL

Mike McDaniel’s success as Dolphins coach offers more evidence that you don’t need to be a tyrant to extract the most from your team.

Dolphins players have talked about McDaniel’s light touch from time to time during his nearly two years as coach. His upbeat, encouraging demeanor with his players has been evident on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

“I think everything starts from the top down,” Dolphins linebacker Jaelen Phillips said before his injury. “When you have a coach who is really uptight and [curse at] you all the time, it makes everybody tight. It makes everybody tighten up. So it starts with the head man and then it goes to position coaches and then your position coaches are all stressed out because they’re getting yelled at by their defensive coordinator or head coach, whatever the case may be.

“Then they’re putting that on you. So when you have an environment, like we don’t just mess around all day. We have fun but we’re locked in and know what the standard is. To be able to have that mindset, [it] just frees everything up.

“You’re not worried about trivial things. We go through a lot and it’s really taxing, both mentally and physically. So, if we’re in here and everybody was just dead all the time and not enjoying ourselves, it would make this whole process that much more miserable.”

McDaniel has been open with people about his battle with alcoholism and when he believes he makes a mistake during a game. Players appreciate it.

“We’re not afraid to be vulnerable,” Phillips said. “We’re not afraid to be honest and open with each other, and I think that starts from the head down. That’s how Mike is, that’s how all of our coaches are pretty much. It really helps to be able to have those shared experiences with people because it makes you feel like you’re not alone.”

As wide receiver Jaylen Waddle said: “Mike is an authentic person. Just him being himself on the daily. He allows us to be ourselves on a daily basis, whether it’s good, bad or in between. When you have an environment and a head coach that allows you to do that, it makes work a lot more enjoyable.”

This story was originally published December 7, 2023 at 9:16 PM.