The Miami Dolphins are experiencing a completely different style of coaching with Mike McDaniel taking over as head coach this offseason after Brian Flores’ firing.
Flores was reportedly extremely strict with his players and some may have felt that they weren’t allowed to be themselves. That’s something that a number of players say after playing for the fallen apples off of the Bill Belichick coaching tree.
No one may be undergoing more of a culture shock than quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. With McDaniel leading the team, things are a bit more relaxed for him.
“I’ve got to be hard on myself,” Tagovailoa said after Day 2 of minicamp. “Mike is a little different. Mike is always trying to encourage you and trying to keep you going so for me it’s a little backwards where I’m used to being hard on myself and the coach getting hard on me, too, whereas I’m getting hard on myself and he’s trying to tell me, ‘Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’re only in May. We’re only in June.’ There’s a lot more time to grow, but It’s been cool.
“It’s been different. Like I said I’ve never been around a coach like this who’s just extremely positive. Growing up, my dad’s always been hard on me. My high school coach has been hard on me. Coach (Nick) Saban has been hard on me and all the coaches that I’ve had prior, they’ve all been hard on me. (Mike McDaniel is) hard, but he takes another alleyway, if you will, on kind of teaching and helping.”
Saban, due to his success and demanding nature, is often compared to Belichick, so having Flores in Miami probably wasn’t far off from those days. Having McDaniel on the field, in the locker room and in the meetings probably makes for lighter days for the quarterback.
Since his arrival, McDaniel has continued to praise Tagovailoa, and that’s something he’s not totally used to. That’s probably why the quarterback is opening up more than he had during his first two seasons in Miami.
While Flores and Saban may have been seen as overbearing, they’ve achieved varying levels of success. One is a seven-time national champion at the college level, and the other led the Dolphins to back-to-bk winning seasons for the first time in over 15 years.
McDaniel has yet to reach the heights that either has as a head coach. However, that could begin to change when the team hits the field in the regular season.
