With summer break officially underway for the Miami Dolphins organization, that doesn’t mean the fan base will be without the popular podcast, “The Fish Tank.” Hosts Seth Levit and O.J. McDuffie welcomed in the first Dolphins’ head coach to “dive in” to the popular show.
Adding to the normal and entertaining “tales from the deep” of Dolphins lore, Levit and McDuffie have recently added current Dolphins players to the show repertoire, and on Tuesday landed the big fish – Mike McDaniel.
Although seemingly an out-of-water situation for the rookie head coach, McDaniel details his story and rise to the guys, and as the show goes on, more clarity is provided on why McDaniel not only was born to coach but more importantly, he was born to lead.
Leadership and understanding the responsibility of controlling the livelihoods and dreams of his players were themes of McDaniel’s dive into his football journey.
Another aspect that was consistent with McDaniel was the “team” and the importance of all the components of the organization.
“The way I see it, is to serve everyone that’s working for you,” he explained. “Because you are, quite literally, vulnerable to what they’re able to do… it’s too big of an undertaking to do anything close to it being one person.”
McDaniel’s awareness of the scope of his new role is very present, and he knows what he’s responsible for.
In a truly impactful moment of the show, he describes how he views his job, saying, “Never stray from that idea that ‘hey, you have the power to participate in, be a part of, and your job is to really do everything you can to really maximize what people are able to get out of their dreams.’”
It’s a dream he had as a kid, where he hoped of one-day leading football players, instead of collecting their trading cards. We learned that his favorite card growing up was his Barry Sanders rookie card, and, believe it or not, he even exited the tank with a few cards from the hosts.
Back to the job of being head coach, McDaniel was aware of his delegation duties to his staff, saying “You have the power to give them (coaches) the tools they need to do their job.”
As a unit, McDaniel said that the staff and players had a successful offseason to date. And, since McDaniel’s arrival in South Florida, the needle has certainly been moving north.
He told the guys with confidence, “For what we’ve accomplished from February 7, when I got my feet on the ground to now, very pleased with where we’re at.”
The process in how they achieved this could have a lot to do with how McDaniel interacts with his players.
“I fully invest in people and try to get the best out of them, and that authentic intention, so-to-speak, I think goes a lot further than people give it its due,” McDaniel said.
Beyond that poignant quote from the Yale history major who seemed to minor in Documentaries once Netflix popped up, McDaniel realizes how important each and every relationship is with his students.
“The player-to-coach relationship is so sacred,” he said. McDaniel even went as far as to say that players, “Can smell a fraud a mile away.”
McDaniel is far from it, as his acumen, uniqueness, quirkiness and plain likability are all welcomed attributes not seen in Miami (combined in one) in quite some time.
This episode of “The Fish Tank” was full of laughs, motivation and, most importantly, the realization that with hard work, dreams could actually come true. What may be the best part about McDaniel is that even at the start of his own dream, it appears he’s ready to pay it forward to his staff and players to make sure they maximize theirs.
That’s a leader, folks.
