The Miami Dolphins fired head coach Mike McDaniel on Thursday morning, ending a four-year tenure that began with immense promise and concluded with organizational chaos.
Owner Stephen Ross cited the need for "comprehensive change" after the Dolphins finished 7-10 and missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. McDaniel departs with a 35-33 record, two playoff appearances, and zero playoff victories—a statistic that ultimately sealed his fate in an organization that hasn't won a postseason game since 2000, the NFL's longest active drought.
The 2025 season accelerated McDaniel's unraveling. Miami lost seven of its first eight games, prompting Ross to fire longtime general manager Chris Grier in late October. The Dolphins rallied briefly with a four-game winning streak, but the damage was done. McDaniel benched Tagovailoa down the stretch, a decision that either represented pragmatic evaluation or desperate flailing, depending on your interpretation of organizational competence. Either way, it crystallized the dysfunction.
McDaniel becomes Miami's third head coach in the past decade to last exactly four seasons or fewer, following Brian Flores and Adam Gase. No Dolphins coach has lasted four full seasons in the role since Dave Wannstedt in 2003.
Miami now joins a crowded field of NFL franchises searching for head coaches, competing with the Ravens, Giants, Titans, Raiders, Falcons, Browns, and Cardinals. John Harbaugh, recently dismissed by Baltimore after 18 seasons, has been floated as a potential candidate given his connections to the Ross family. That potential pairing would represent Miami abandoning the offensive guru model entirely in favor of traditional institutional stability—a head coach who's won a Super Bowl and built sustained organizational success.
McDaniel will land another offensive coordinator role somewhere. His scheme work remains elite, and NFL teams perpetually need creative play-callers. The Dolphins' offense ranked 25th in scoring this season, a stunning collapse from second in 2023. The high-powered attack that defined McDaniel's early success couldn't survive injuries, poor defense, and organizational instability.
Ross's statement thanked McDaniel for his "hard work, commitment, and the energy he brought to our organization," calling him "an incredibly creative football mind whose passion for the game and his players was evident every day."
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