Dolphins hire McDaniel as NFL head coach

The Miami Dolphins have hired Mike McDaniel as their head coach, making him the first minority candidate to get hired so far this NFL off-season.

McDaniel, who is biracial, replaces Brian Flores, who was fired despite posting winning records in the final two of his three seasons in Miami.

Flores sued the NFL, the Dolphins and two other teams last week over alleged racist hiring practices for coaches and general managers, saying the league remains "rife with racism" even as it publicly condemns it.

McDaniel gets his first shot to be in charge of a team after just one year as offensive coordinator at the San Francisco 49ers.

McDaniel was credited for his role in developing San Francisco's creative running game that featured receiver Deebo Samuel as a running back at times.

The Dolphins struggled offensively this season despite finishing 9-8 in a roller-coaster campaign that featured a seven-game losing streak followed by a seven-game winning streak.

Second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa struggled at times and Miami ranked 22nd in the league in scoring this season.

The 49ers had a much more productive offence despite having a quarterback with limitations in Jimmy Garoppolo.

The Yale-educated McDaniel got his coaching start on Mike Shanahan's staff in Denver in 2005.

He worked an offensive assistant in Houston for in 2006-08 when Kyle Shanahan was on that staff.

McDaniel then worked in Washington for three years with Mike Shanahan as coach and Kyle Shanahan as offensive coordinator.

When Kyle Shanahan was a coordinator in Cleveland and Atlanta, McDaniel followed him.

McDaniel then joined Shanahan's staff in San Francisco in 2017 as run game coordinator and took over the offensive coordinator role this past season.

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