The Miami Dolphins coaching search just got more complicated.
Already a job of questionable appeal considering the Dolphins just fired Brian Flores after he went 24-25 in two seasons with a mediocre roster, things got even hairier on Tuesday, when Flores included the Dolphins in his lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.
Among the allegations was a claim that Miami owner Stephen Ross offered Flores $100K for every game the Dolphins lost, in order to tank for better draft picks. Flores believes his refusal to do so is one of the reasons he was fired.
This all adds another wrinkle for 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike McDaniel, who is scheduled to have a second interview with the Dolphins for the HC job on Thursday. He, along with Cowboys Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore, are the only two candidates known to have been offered second interviews.
49ers beat writer Eric Branch believes McDaniel has a shot to be the Dolphins’ first choice.
“It sounds like his chances are decent,” Branch said on KNBR Wednesday. “As far as I know there are two known finalists: Mike McDaniel and Kellen Moore. Maybe 50-50 based on that.”
But would McDaniel take the job in light of the accusations being levied against the organization? Branch has some doubts.
“Part of me says these guys don’t care. A lot of guys don’t care. There are 32 NFL head coaching jobs, the money, the prestige, they’ll go to NFL Siberia for an NFL head coaching job. I don’t pretend to know Mike McDaniel personally, but I would think that situation in Miami — where the owner is in affect trying to bribe a head coach, incentivizing him to lose games to improve draft position — might give him pause. Particularly coming from a situation like the 49ers. I’m not saying they are perfect, but they are kind of viewed as a class organization right now with Kyle [Shanahan] and John [Lynch].
“I don’t know, to answer your question, but I would think that would at least make him a little hesitant or make him want to investigate that situation more thoroughly. As you mentioned, the other allegations against the Dolphins, and McDaniel is bi-racial. So that’s another layer to it.
“I think if he remains interested, the 49ers obviously could lose him. He would be a significant loss. He spent 14 of the past 16 seasons with Shanahan, largely as his top lieutenant. So, they could recover from it, but as he’s spoken for the first time in press conferences, we’ve seen his personality, pretty engaging, Ivy League education, pretty sharp guy.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Papa & Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
