The Miami Dolphins fired coach Mike McDaniel on Thursday, the team announced, cutting ties after a second straight season of missing the playoffs. The Dolphins become the eighth NFL team with a head coaching opening.
The 42-year-old McDaniel finished with a 35-33 record and failed to notch a postseason victory in his four seasons in Miami. After a successful start to his time with the franchise, in which McDaniel looked like one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds, things fell apart early in his fourth season with the Dolphins.
Miami got off to a 1-6 start — putting McDaniel squarely on the hot seat — before eventually stabilizing with a four-game midseason winning streak. That wasn’t enough to earn McDaniel a fifth year on the job, especially with the Dolphins likely to start over at quarterback after benching Tua Tagovailoa for the final three games. The Dolphins finished 7-10, their first double-digit losing season since 2019.
“After careful evaluation and extensive discussions since the season ended, I have made the decision that our organization is in need of comprehensive change,” Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross said in a statement Thursday. “I informed Mike McDaniel this morning that he has been relieved of his duties as head coach. I love Mike and want to thank him for his hard work, commitment, and the energy he brought to our organization.
“Mike is an incredibly creative football mind whose passion for the game and his players was evident every day. I wish him and his family the best moving forward.”
A quarter of the NFL’s teams now have head coaching vacancies:
◽️ Titans
◽️ Giants
◽️ Falcons
◽️ Raiders
◽️ Browns
◽️ Cardinals
◽️ Ravens
◽️ Dolphins
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) January 8, 2026
In a statement posted by the Dolphins, McDaniel called his tenure with the team “the honor of a lifetime” and said he will “forever cherish (his) time in Miami.”
“When I took this job, I had a vision of a team that was bonded together and played with passion and energy on the path to winning championships,” he said. “I gave everything I had for that goal. I am disappointed, especially for the fans, that we did not have better results on the field, but I am grateful for every coach, player, and staff member who poured themselves into that vision alongside me.”
McDaniel also thanked Ross for hiring him as a “little-known coach at the time,” as well as his wife and daughter for their support.
The Dolphins hired McDaniel in 2022 after he served as the offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers under Kyle Shanahan for one season and had been a longtime Shanahan assistant. At the time of his hiring, the Dolphins had missed the postseason for five consecutive years and 12 of the previous 13 seasons. McDaniel managed to immediately end that drought, leading Miami to the playoffs in 2022 with a 9-8 record. The Dolphins fell 34-31 to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round. Miami improved to 11-6 in 2023 and again made the playoffs, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the wild-card round.
Ahead of the 2024 season, the Dolphins rewarded McDaniel with a three-year extension, locking him in through the 2028 season. But he dealt with a tough situation at quarterback that year as Tagovailoa was limited to just 11 games with a concussion. Miami went 6-5 in Tagovailoa’s starts, but just 2-4 without him. The Dolphins finished 8-9 and outside of the playoff picture for the first time under McDaniel.
Miami’s 2025 season got off to an even rougher start, with the team looking out of sorts in its 33-8 season-opening loss to the Indianapolis Colts. After the game, the team held a players-only meeting and responded with a better outing in Week 2, though the Dolphins still lost a close game to the New England Patriots. They finally got a win in Week 4 over the winless New York Jets, a game in which they lost receiver Tyreek Hill for the season to a significant knee injury that included multiple torn ligaments.
Miami followed that up with consecutive losses to the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers by a combined five points, the latter of which led to Tagovailoa questioning the team’s leadership. Tagovailoa later apologized for his comments after McDaniel said the postgame news conference was not the “proper forum” for the quarterback to issue his message to the team.
A 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 7 may have been the low point. Tagovailoa, once viewed as a perfect fit for McDaniel, was benched after throwing three interceptions and replaced by rookie Quinn Ewers. McDaniel left the door open after that game for the benching to be permanent, saying “everything’s on the table” while promising a “tape-driven” process to make that decision.
McDaniel ultimately stuck with Tagovailoa, who responded by throwing four touchdown passes in a dominant 34-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons. That proved to be a one-week mirage, with the Baltimore Ravens throttling the Dolphins four days later on the national stage of “Thursday Night Football” in a 28-6 loss. From there, the Dolphins finally went on a run, winning four straight games.
But another rough performance by Tagovailoa in a Week 15 Monday night loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers led to the quarterback’s benching in place of the rookie Ewers, who started the final three games for Miami, going 1-2.
The Dolphins have not won a playoff game since 2000, the longest drought in the NFL. Miami’s last postseason victory was a 23-17 wild-card win over the Colts in 2000, Peyton Manning’s third year in the NFL. Miami lost the following week to the Oakland Raiders 27-0. The Dolphins have been to the playoffs five times since then, losing in the wild-card round each time.
