Mike McDaniel‘s frequently in the news, though not always for his team’s performance. The Miami Dolphins head coach is known for being chirpy on the field, with a tongue for banter. Just recently, he got into a bit of a spat for his taunting of the Las Vegas Raiders players.

At 4-6 and facing ever-slimming odds of making it to the playoffs, how does McDaniel manage to stay so upbeat? Well, as a loving father and family man, we’re sure he draws a lot of support and positivity from his wife and daughter.

Who is Mike McDaniel’s daughter?

There’s a whole cluster of head coaches currently aged 39-42, part of the Sean McVay effect. Like some of them, McDaniel got into this whole fatherhood business pretty late. At age 41, Mike McDaniel is father to toddler Alya June, his daughter with Katie Hemstalk. He’s spoken at length about how becoming a father has changed him as a man.

At nearly 4 years old, it’s no surprise Alya’s her dad’s world. “What’s funny about being a father of a two-and-a-half-year-old is that every day is daughter day,” McDaniel said in an interview back in 2023. At the press conference where he accepted the Miami Dolphins coaching job, he called his daughter a miracle, saying he couldn’t wait to see what she grew into. Both Katie and Alya frequently show up at home games to lend Mike their support.

Interestingly, McDaniel has drawn comparison between parenting his little girl and head coaching for the Dolphins. “I think ironically they’re similar in that it’s a servitude role. Being a dad is very much like being a head coach in that you’re constantly concerned about the well-being of other people,” is how he sees it. And McDaniel really does have an almost parenting style in his coaching, like a cool dad. It’s easy to imagine how he gets along with Alya.

When did the Dolphins’ HC have kids?

It’s important to look at McDaniel’s experience with fatherhood in the context of his own life. Mike McDanel’s actually biracial, but his birth father died in a car crash when he was just 4. It was his stepdad, Gary McCune, who he looked up to as a male role model in later years. Positive masculinity has to be learned and can be a real force for good. When Alya June was born, it was the height of the pandemic, a difficult time nobody could have planned for.

McDaniel was the run game coordinator for the 49ers at the time under Shanahan. He would soon find himself flying up the ladder, first with the 49ers and then with the Dolphins. McDaniel had been married more than half a decade by that point, marrying Katie in 2014. The HC credits her for his success, saying she helped him overcome his struggles with alcoholism and find balance.

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It was into this stable, happy home that Alya had the fortune to be born more than 5 years into their marriage. And things have only been going better for the McDaniels ever since. Besides this season, let’s hope that trajectory continues.