Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel was barely out of grade school when Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Nick Saban got their first big coaching jobs. So to see them all leave their respective teams within the last 24 hours was quite the shock to him.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, McDaniel spoke glowingly about Belichick and Saban for what they’ve done in the NFL. He said that seeing them both lose their jobs was a reminder to him that Father Time is undefeated.
“They have as much responsibility to what the game is right now than anybody that’s around,” McDaniel said, via Daniel Oyefusi.
“It’s just kind of a reminder to me that Father Time’s an (expletive). I think it reminds you that everything is finite… I’m kind of mourning the loss of (Belichick, Carroll and Saban) for sure.”
Mike McDaniel was born in 1983. That year Bill Belichick was in his ninth year as an NFL assistant while Pete Carroll was heading into his first as defensive coordinator of his alma mater Pacific.
Nick Saban, meanwhile, was heading into his first year as defensive coordinator of Michigan State.
It’s the end of an era for football.