Miami Dolphins name Mike McDaniel as head coach to replace Flores

The Miami Dolphins named former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel as their new head coach on Sunday to fill the vacancy created by the January firing of Brian Flores, who sued the NFL last week over alleged race bias.

McDaniel, who takes over a Dolphins team that are coming off of two consecutive winning seasons yet haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, is the first minority head coach hire in the 2022 cycle. McDaniel is biracial; his father is Black.

The Dolphins’ coaching announcement comes five days after Flores, who is Black, sued the NFL and three of its teams over discriminating against Black candidates for coaching and management jobs.

The lawsuit seeks to force the NFL to make of changes, incentivize teams to hire Black coaches and general managers, and require teams to explain hiring and termination decisions in writing.

We have agreed to terms with Mike McDaniel. Welcome to Miami, Coach! pic.twitter.com/Hk5gIQsc6l

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) February 6, 2022

According to Flores, teams have conducted “sham interviews” with Black candidates to satisfy a 2003 NFL policy known as the Rooney Rule requiring that minorities be interviewed for coaching jobs.

In a statement responding to the suit, the NFL said the claims were without merit. The Dolphins also said Flores’ allegations were without merit.

Miami’s decision to fire Flores in January was one of the more surprising head coach decisions of the 2021 NFL season, given the Dolphins won eight of their final nine games after starting the season 1-7.

Flores, who took over a struggling Miami team in 2019, went 24-25 during his three seasons in charge but failed to lead them to the playoffs, a drought that dates to the 2016 season.

McDaniel, 38, joins Miami after five seasons in San Francisco, where he served as the team’s offensive coordinator during the 2021 season after four years as the team’s run game coordinator (2017-2020).

McDaniel joins Ron Rivera (Washington Commanders) Robert Saleh (New York Jets) and Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers) as the NFL’s only minority coaches.

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Chris Reese and Gerry Doyle)