Fired Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who has a solid track record as an offensive coordinator for winning teams, could reignite the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense.
Mike McDaniel is set to interview for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator job Friday, per multiple reports.
McDaniel is looking for work because the Miami Dolphins fired him as their head coach after the regular season, and the Buccaneers have an OC opening because they fired Josh Grizzard after just one season.
At 42, having led Miami to the playoffs twice as its head coach, McDaniel could get another head coaching job.
McDaniel has reportedly interviewed for the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans vacancies, so he apparently has interest in continuing as a head coach.
But McDaniel would rather have an offensive-coordinator job with a winning organization than a head-coaching job with a losing one, according to Fox Sports' Greg Auman.
Although the Buccaneers weren't a winning organization in 2025 -- finishing 8-9 and losing seven of their last nine games to concede the NFC South to the 8-9 Carolina Panthers -- the team's success over the past half-decade is undeniable.
Tampa came into this season with five straight NFC South titles and a Super Bowl win in 2021, and if not for a collapse this year, Tampa would have six straight, and Grizzard might still have his job. Ironically, McDaniel and the Dolphins helped that slide by beating the Bucs Week 17.
The last time McDaniel walked into a winning operation, it worked out well.
McDaniel was only with the San Francisco 49ers for one season, but in that season, the 49ers went to the NFC Championship Game, and McDaniel helped receiver Deebo Samuel become a first-team All-Pro.
This led to McDaniel becoming a head coach, and in McDaniel's first two seasons in Miami, the Dolphins went to the playoffs.
Miami struggled in McDaniel's last two seasons, going 8-9 in 2024 and 7-10 this past season, leading to his dismissal.
But even if McDaniel isn't a great head coach, the Bucs wouldn't hire him to do that; they'd hire him to be a coordinator, and that's something he's more than qualified to do. McDaniel might even be able to take the Buccaneers' run game to another level.
Offensive coordinators have also had success working with head coach Todd Bowles and quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Dave Canales became Tampa's OC in 2023, and by 2024, he was the head coach of the Panthers.
The next year, Liam Coen succeeded Canales, and by 2025, he became the Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach.
Bowles himself is an example of how a fired head coach becoming a coordinator can pay off. After the New York Jets fired him following the 2018 season, Bowles became Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator. In his second season in that role, the Bucs won the Super Bowl, and two seasons after that, he became the team's head coach, winning division titles in each of his first three seasons.
The bad news for Tampa Bay is that the Philadelphia Eagles also need an offensive coordinator after firing Kevin Patullo on Wednesday. There are no reports of McDaniel interviewing for the Eagles job as of this writing, but one would think he'd be a candidate for last year's Super Bowl champs.
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