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New Dolphins coach Mike Daniel is biracial — an important note for the NFL on multiple fronts, not least of which is the fact it and its teams are defendants in a class-action lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices against minorities.
The fact McDaniel is biracial — his father is Black — is also important to the 49ers, who have been given two third-round draft picks for developing their former offensive coordinator into a head coach. It is part of the NFL’s revamped Rooney Rules, aimed at improving hiring practices around Black and other minority coaching candidates.
MORE: Who is Mike McDaniel? Longtime Shanahan assistant hired as next Dolphins head coach
But McDaniel doesn’t appear obviously biracial, which has raised questions about his racial background in the NFL.
The focus on McDaniel’s race picked up steam after Deadspin posted an article titled, “Sure, Mike McDaniel seems cool, but he’s not worthy of a head coaching gig yet.”
A relatively harmless headline, right? Except everything below the headline was problematic.
The teaser text read, “Please stop and think before you inadvertently dub another young, white guy as the next hot NFL coaching.”
Deadspin described McDaniel as “ticking off all the boxes to be the next trendy, young, white guy who takes a head coaching position before one of the many deserving Black candidates.”
And then came the “Editors note.”
Editors’ note: We learned after the publication of this article that 49ers OC Mike McDaniel, whom we describe as a “white guy,” is in fact biracial. The article’s original text remains below. We regret the error.
Deadspin’s catastrophic error was entirely avoidable. A quick Google search document’s McDaniel’s background.
The league has had very few Black head coaches in its history, despite the fact 70 percent of its players identify as such.
McDaniel, for his part, finds people’s fixation with his race to be “odd.” The first-year head coach said as much at an introductory news conference on Wednesday when a reporter asked him about it:
“It’s been very odd, to tell you the truth, this idea of ‘identifying’ as something,” McDaniel said. “I think people identify me as something, but I identify as a human being and my dad is Black. So whatever you want to call it, I know there’s a lot of people with a shared experience. It’s weird that it comes up because I’ve just tried to be a good person.”
Mike McDaniel on people talking about his racial background “It’s been very odd…I identify as a human being and my dad’s black” pic.twitter.com/XRRrNsNsc1
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 10, 2022
MORE: Brian Flores lawsuit, explained: Former Dolphins coach sues NFL, teams for discriminatory hiring practices
I think my background opens my eyes a little bit. I don’t have any real experience with racism because I think you identify me as something close to — I don’t know. I know my mom experienced it when she married my dad. I know my dad experienced it, that’s in my family. But I guess that makes me a human being that can identify with other people’s problems.
McDaniel’s comments come amid growing dialogue about the role of race in the NFL’s hiring practices, particularly as it relates to head coach and general manager positions. McDaniel’s predecessor at Miami, Flores — who is Black — filed a suit claiming NFL teams engage in sham interviews which, while technically adhering to the Rooney Rule, violate their spirit since many teams end up hiring white candidates.
Flores’ lawsuit mentions Dolphins owner Stephen Ross by name and alleges he treated Flores with disdain after ignoring a demand to tank to get a better draft position. Flores’ suit also claims Ross would never have treated a white coach in such a manner.
MORE: What is the Rooney Rule? Explaining NFL mandate to interview minority candidates, its effectiveness and criticisms
Regardless, McDaniel is considered the latest minority hire in the NFL.
Whether he bothers to consider race as part of his role as Miami’s head coach is up to him.
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