Unlike many others, Mike McDaniel’s destiny led him to the NFL! Today, when naming some of the best head coaches of the league, many would likely mention the Miami Dolphins’ HC. However did you know that his path to the league wasn’t that easy? At one point, he even worked as a ball boy for the Broncos.

McDaniel’s mother, Donna McDaniel, faced challenges as a single mom trying to make ends meet in Greenley, Colorado. She worked long hours at a local meat company, often leaving her with no money for daycare. To solve this and sell beef, she dropped her 10-year-old son at the Denver Broncos season camp in 1993. And from here his story with football begins, as the HC disclosed his ball boy story.

Mike McDaniel’s step-father has a big role!

After years of sitting in the Broncos’ camp, Mike McDaniel fell in love with the team and football.  An excerpt tweeted by FinsXtra from the interview on LeBatardShow captioned “McDaniel tells the story of how he became a ball boy for the Denver Broncos.” He recounted how, as a third-grader, he was so passionate about football that he would ride his bike to the Broncos’ training camp at the University of Northern Colorado, just a 10-15-minute ride from his home. Instead of traditional childcare, the Broncos’ practices became his daily routine. He reveals the story of a ‘precious’ hat and how he landed the role of a ball boy on the team,

Narrating the story, McDaniel said that on one particular day, wearing a distinctive Charlotte Hornets hat, he managed to get an autograph from a player, Robert Filipino. To get more autographs from his favorite players, McDaniel dreamt up the perfect plan. His beloved hat will play the prop, in this well thought out plan, to get autographs from the same players. As narrated by him, “I took the hat off, put it on a wall, ran and got the autograph, so he wouldn’t recognize me. So I could get a second autograph coz I was a greedy.” However, when he returned, his signed hat was gone leaving the young fan in tears.

Destiny, playing its part, a Broncos’ employee, the assistant video director,stepped up to help the kid. Two days later, the employee bought Mike a new hat, especially for him. The price tag was on it. As luck would have it, this kind gesture of the Broncos’ employee drew attention from McDaniel’s mother.

This man was none other than Gary McCune, who later introduced himself to Mike’s mother, changing the path of McDaniels’ life. “They started dating. They got married that’s how I moved to Denver. And I became a ball boy,” because of his stepfather’s role with the team. However, it wasn’t just because of his step father role, there is another aspect to the story.

After Mike McDaniel expressed his desire to become a ball boy, McCune said he “needed to earn it” like anyone else. Donna McDaniel too wanted her son to get a job on his own merit. McDaniel then wrote a letter to coach Mike Shanahan, advocating for himself as a ball boy for the 1995 Broncos. Eventually, Shanahan saw potential in him, and soon McDaniel got a job, alongside the owner’s kids.

Mike McDaniel’s Fairy Tale

After getting the ball boy job for the next decade, Mike McDaniel worked at the team’s camps. This experience became a notable part of his story – where he learned some of his coaching skills. Observing the Broncos’ NFL dynasty in the late 1990s had a profound impact on him. Interestingly, his journey involved more than just being on the sidelines. He started flag football in first grade and was already coaching his peewee teammates by the time he became a ball boy. His early involvement in sports and close observation of the Broncos’ coaching strategies shaped his understanding of the game and lay the foundation for his future.

Raised in an environment influenced by analytical thinking, McDaniel developed a passion with football’s intricacies. In particular, he was interested in offensive line depth charts. Initially aiming to play college football at Yale, he pivoted towards video analysis after realizing it was his true passion. His career path took a turn when he landed an internship with the Broncos in 2005, under the mentorship of the same coach Mike Shanahan, who had known him since childhood. However, success was way ahead in his life.

The setbacks followed like any fairy tale, including a firing from the Texans due to reliability issues and reportedly personal struggles with alcohol. Underrated, McDaniel persevered, working with teams like Washington, Atlanta, and San Francisco over a decade. His breakthrough came in 2021 when he was appointed offensive coordinator for the 49ers. The opportunity to lead came calling in 2022 when the Phins selected him as their HC. This move brought him close to his mother in Florida. And on February 7, 2022, McDaniel took oath as the 11th head coach of the franchise.

The journey of becoming one of the best young coaches in NFL might just be the first chapter of McDaniel’s legacy.