Mike McDaniel has established himself as one of the NFL‘s brightest minds and a playoff-caliber coach with the Miami Dolphins.
But outside of his play-calling and postseason appearances came confusion growing up. It stemmed from how kids perceived his ethnic background. What is his ethnicity and family history, and how did it shape a young McDaniel?
Mike McDaniel’s Family Background
McDaniel’s light complexion suggests that he’s a Caucasian NFL head coach. Except he became a minority hire for the Dolphins because he’s biracial.
McDaniel identifies as half-white and half-black. In an interview with ESPN, after he was hired as Miami’s head coach, he explained his racial makeup.
“First and foremost, I’m biracial. My mom’s white, my dad’s Black. I’ve been extremely proud of that my whole life,” McDaniel told ESPN.
“It is a unique experience, being a race and then fully acknowledging that most outside observers, when they perceive you, they identify you as something other than the race you are. When you’re younger and that is happening, it’s very, very confusing.”
McDaniel admitted there were some confusing moments involving his skin tone growing up.
Experiences of Being Biracial Revealed by McDaniel
In that same interview, McDaniel shared some of the struggles he endured growing up half-white and half-black.
McDaniel detailed one account where he was “ostracized” by members of his family, simply because the mother chose to marry a black male. But there was one other experience he described as “eye-opening.”
While visiting his paternal grandmother at her house, that was when McDaniel realized he looked far different. His skin was a much different color than the family members in the photos with his grandmother.
“It shaped a very unique perspective for me because I am biracial, and I know these things are wrong, but people are identifying me as something else, so it’s not happening to me. It’s a conflicting emotion,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel Reflects on the Tyreek Hill/Miami-Dade Police Situation
A Miami-Dade cop pulled him over — “They said I was speeding,” Hill would later say, “reckless driving or whatever” — and moments later, he was on the ground, hands behind his back, in handcuffs.
A Dolphins reporter asked McDaniel about his perspective on the situation and how his own experiences shape his mentality toward race relations in law enforcement.
McDaniel: “Well yeah, because it’s two part — I guess my journey has left me aware, but at the same time there is a huge level of I don’t know, because I’m not — simply by my appearance, I don’t have a history of feeling profiled. I’m not sure if that makes it — for me in particular, I just feel pretty helpless at times. Situations like that it’s not about the emotions that arises for me, it’s about the people in it.
“It’s probably more visceral because yes, I do spend a lot of time prioritizing empathy, and then when you know you can’t truly understand, the unknown is what crushes me. I can only forecast. My forecast, what if it’s worse?
“Since I was young, the racial relations and all things involved in that has been just kind of one of those things that I’m on the outside looking in at everything going on. I know from one thing, my appearance lends me to the journey of many not alienated.”
The Loss of McDaniel’s Father
McDaniel never got the chance to be raised by his biological parents throughout junior high and high school. That’s because he endured tragedy involving one of his parents.
McDaniel’s father, Mike Sr., was killed in a car accident when his son was only four years old. His mother, Donna, ended up working multiple jobs to make ends meet and provide for her son.
McDaniel and his mother, though, would witness a new family chapter through the Denver Broncos.
While attending training camp and hoping to get his hat autographed by former Bronco Robert Delpino, McDaniel lost his hat and began sobbing. A videographer named Gary McCune noticed the melancholy McDaniel and decided to purchase him a new hat the following day. That was when McCune began to befriend McDaniel.
As fate would have it, a young McDaniel helped introduce his mother to McCune in 1993. They’ve since been married and helped watch McDaniel grow into an NFL head coach.
McDaniel became the franchise’s 14th head coaching hire, but he also operates as Miami’s first-ever biracial head coach. Since taking over the franchise, he’s become the first Dolphins coach since Dave Wannstedt to guide back-to-back playoff appearances through the first two seasons of head coaching.