Dave Hyde: Mike McDaniel is out. Is John Harbaugh in for Dolphins?

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jan 8, 2026

Published in Football

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Steve Ross now can give his Miami Dolphins something they haven’t had in his 17 years as team owner:

Trust.

The inbred oddities and chronic dysfunction that has kept his organization spinning in a mediocre place has a chance to change with Thursday’s firing of coach Mike McDaniel. It means Ross cleaned out his organization in recent weeks with the previous firing of general manager Chris Grier and uncoupling from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

A fresh start can be made now. There are several options involving good football people. John Harbaugh, who the Ravens fired on Tuesday, is the chess move here. Since Ross bought the team in 2009, he hasn’t been able to assemble a winning organization in a manner that was reflected on the playing field.

Now, if he can pull it off, Ross just needs to slide the keys to the franchise across the table and tell Harbaugh, “You build the organization.”

The Dolphins have interviewed candidates for general manager this week in what could spill over into a coaching search now, too. Or it ends with Harbaugh as coach and boss for the rest of the football side. There would be a trust in Harbaugh the Dolphins haven’t at the top since Jimmy Johnson was around three decades ago.

He’d give the franchise instant credibility and a selling point to fans that need one right now. He is a Super Bowl winner, a regular contender, a respected coach who was just fired from the Baltimore Ravens after 18 years and overnight became the hot candidate on the market.

The Dolphins needed change, too. This isn’t to pile on McDaniel. Who didn’t root for him with his quirky ways and un-football-coach manner? Who didn’t appreciate how he met the initial challenge of the job by turning Tagovailoa into a capable NFL quarterback?

He gave his best. But his 35-35 record with no playoff wins was weighed down by the idea he was still learning how to be an NFL head coach. His way of winning was to be the players’ friend. He was then bit by rewarding problem children like Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill with unnecessary money.

He solved Tua, but then oversold him by pushing for his four-year, $212 million contract. It’s a massive mistake that will take the next two seasons to wipe clean off the books.

Even after Grier was fired in midseason, Ross wanted to keep McDaniel. The selling point was that after a 1-6 start this season, the Dolphins then went on a 6-3 run, before Sunday’s season-ending loss. That’s 7-10. That’s a tough sell. His results bobbed a little lower each year.

This isn’t a great job to take. The roster is light. The salary-cap situation a mess. They don’t have a franchise quarterback and are in a division facing Buffalo’s Josh Allen and New England’s Drake Maye for years ahead.

The Dolphins are starting over again, in other words.

So, why not start over in style?

They could with a new GM like Green Bay assistant Jon-Eric Sullivan or San Francisco’s Josh Williams. They helped build great organizations. But it’s always been telling a late add-on to the Dolphins’ list of candidates was the Los Angeles Chargers’ assistant general manager Chad Alexander.

He has worked with John’s brother, Jim, the Chargers’ coach. He also worked for years inside Ravens’ team. This was the start of the Dolphins making eye contact across the room with Harbaugh. The firing of McDaniel was another part.

Can they close the deal?

Some will say Harbaugh hasn’t won enough in the postseason. Maybe so. Everyone has blemishes. But consider in his past three losses of note were decided by receiver Zay Flowers’ fumbling, tight end Mark Andrews dropping a two-point conversion and just Sunday a 44-yard field goal sailing wide.

Sports happens. Sometimes it’s not how you want it to happen. But the Dolphins aren’t in a place to question why someone has only one Super Bowl ring. The issue here always wasn’t if they’d be interested in Harbaugh but if they could get him interested in them.

Maybe McDaniel’s firing was the final step toward this. Maybe, too, other finalists said they’d be more comfortable with the job if they brought in their own coach.

All you know is Ross is cutting some big checks for his team’s mistakes. Tua is owed $99 million. McDaniel is reportedly owed $19 million for the two remaining years on his contract. Grier is no doubt owed millions more.

Ross went out of his way to say how much it pained him to fire McDaniel. It was the right move for the sake of his organization. Now comes another tough rebuild with a new name leading it. Several good football names are in the mix.

The chess move would be Harbaugh.