ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith called for Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel to be fired, citing the Dolphins’ 1-5 start and describing a lack of leadership following pointed postgame comments from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
During the postgame news conference, Tagovailoa was asked how the team could prevent a “woe is me” attitude with the losses piling up, which Tagovailoa used as a chance to voice his frustration.
“We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late,” Tagovailoa said. “Guys are not showing up to player-only meetings. There’s a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory or not? It’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up, and it starts with the little things like that.”
On Monday’s edition of “First Take,” Smith criticized McDaniel’s handling of the team and said it was time for the Dolphins to make a change.
“Mike McDaniel needs to go,” Smith said. “The coach of the Miami Dolphins needs to go. He needs to be gone as the head coach of this franchise. He’s not a leader of men. That’s what this comes down to.”
Smith pointed to Tagovailoa’s comments and used Tagovailoa’s public remarks about the meetings as justification for a coaching change.
“You see the Miami Dolphins disintegrating before our very eyes. They’re not even treading water anymore. They’re sinking. They’re drowning. And to me, that was the statement he was making. He was calling it out. He was like, listen, man, he was basically saying, we tried everything else, and clearly we don’t have the leadership that we need here. That’s really what the bottom line is.”
Smith also suggested that the Dolphins need a new coach who is more of a disciplinarian who can keep the players focused, preventing the number of distractions that are in Miami and the surrounding area.
“There are certain locales that require a little bit more because being in those locales, there are a lot of distractions,” Smith said. “When you have them, at times, there are certain places that you could be that no matter what kind of struggles you have, your attitude is, the sun will shine, not tomorrow, this afternoon. There are too many people in certain confines that get a bit comfortable. You got to have an elevated level of discipline, even more so in certain situations.”
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