“What’s Metallica without a guitar?” Mike McDaniel asks.
The Dolphins’ second-year coach is speaking hypothetically about the essence of what makes a band, but also more generally about the people and objects that make up any group defined by the way it performs. “Probably not selling albums,” he adds.
The head coach sets a football team’s culture. That’s true of McDaniel and the 31 others in his position across the NFL, each of whom are spokespeople, managers and decision-makers on issues large and small. They typically receive the credit when a team sees its fortunes turn around, and the blame when it doesn’t.
But the truth is McDaniel is reliant on an army of people surrounding him on the org chart, many of whom have been with the Dolphins significantly longer than he has. They are “head coaches of their own departments,” as he puts it. Some of them have been in place for decades. He can appreciate their behind-the-scenes dedication, having started his career in the equipment room as a Broncos ball boy.
“People don’t really understand what type of commitment that is to be on a seven-day-a-week program,” he told SI in September of his vast support staff. “So it’s awesome when the team finds success, because you find those people are doing it for the right reasons.”
Four days later, his Dolphins stomped the Broncos by 50 points in their home opener. They set an NFL record with 726 yards and became the first team to score 10 touchdowns in a game since 1966. They could have broken the all-time scoring record of 72, if not for a merciful kneeldown from within field goal range on their final play.
