Mike McDaniel is looking poised to go from South Florida to Southern California.
The former Miami Dolphins head coach McDaniel is expected to become the next offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers barring a change of heart, Adam Schefter of ESPN reported on Tuesday. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network adds that, while McDaniel remains a candidate for head coaching jobs in Baltimore and Las Vegas, the Chargers plan to hire him as their OC.
McDaniel, 42, had spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Dolphins. He went 35-33 (.512) overall with zero playoff wins and was fired by Miami after a 7-10 finish this season.
Assuming that McDaniel does indeed take the OC job with the Chargers, it would be a return to his roots of sorts. McDaniel has an extensive background on the offensive side of the ball and previously served as an offensive coordinator elsewhere in the state of California with the San Francisco 49ers.
The Chargers are reeling right now after falling in the Wild Card round to the New England Patriots, meaning that they still have not won a single playoff game during the Justin Herbert era. In the wake of that loss, they decided to fire OC Greg Roman as well as offensive line coach Mike Devlin.
Ever since being fired by Miami, McDaniel has also garnered significant interest from some major teams for their OC jobs. But if McDaniel returns next season as an offensive coordinator instead of as a head coach, it looks like it will ultimately be with the Chargers.
