Ben McDaniels (born June 6, 1980) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach who is the

Wide receivers coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive and Defensive c ...

and passing game coordinator for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and also previously serving as the interim wide receivers coach in late 2018. McDaniels previously served as the wide receivers coach for the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers University in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Rutgers competes as a member of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. ...

team before being promoted to offensive coordinator after

Ralph Friedgen Ralph Harry Friedgen (born April 4, 1947) is a former American football coach. He was most recently the special assistant coach for Rutgers in 2015 after serving as their offensive coordinator in the 2014 season. He was the head coach at the Uni ...

decided to step down as OC after the season. McDaniels served as quarterback assistant with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

of the

in 2010. He played collegiately as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

from 2000 to 2001.

Coaching career

McDaniels began his coaching career in 2003 as

wide receivers coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive and Defensive c ...

Warren G. Harding High School Warren G. Harding High School is a public high school in Warren, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Warren City School District. Sports teams are called the Raiders, and they compete in the Ohio High School Athletic Associatio ...

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The his ...

. He then spent the next two years as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

coach under head coach

Glen Mason Glen Orin Mason (born April 9, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. Mason served as the head football coach at Kent State University from 1986 to 1987, the University of Kansas from 1988 to 1996, and the University of Minnesota ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. McDaniels was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

by head coach

Pete Mangurian Peter K. Mangurian (born June 17, 1955) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently serving as the offensive line coach for the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL (2020), XFL and was formerly the tight ends coach for the Tampa Bay ...

on December 29, 2011 but left for a position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers less than 2 months later. On February 12, 2016, McDaniels joined the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

as an offensive quality control coach. McDaniels returned to college football in 2018, joining the

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

staff as an offensive analyst on the staff of head coach

Jim Harbaugh James Joseph Harbaugh (; born December 23, 1963) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current and 20th head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He played college football at Michigan from 1983 to 1986. He play ...

. On December 3, 2018, McDaniels was named wide receivers coach for Michigan's game against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the 2018 Peach Bowl. McDaniels took over the duties from

Jim McElwain James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Central Michigan University. He previously served as the head coach at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, ...

, who had recently assumed the head coaching position at

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan corre ...

. On February 5, 2019, McDaniels was named Michigan's quarterbacks coach for the 2019 season. On March 10, 2021, McDaniels joined the

as their assistant wide receivers coach and offensive assistant. On February 21, 2022, McDaniels was promoted to wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

Personal life

McDaniels is the son of Thom McDaniels (the 1997 ''USA Today'' High School Coach of the Year and often described as a "legend" of Ohio high school football). He is the younger brother of former

' head coach and current

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

' head coach

Josh McDaniels Joshua Thomas McDaniels (born April 22, 1976) is an American football head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career in 2001 with the New England Patriots, where he served as the offensive coo ...

. McDaniels received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in sport management from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

and a master's degree in sport management from the

References

External links

Columbia profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDaniels, Ben 1980 births Living people American football quarterbacks Kent State Golden Flashes football players Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Denver Broncos coaches Columbia Lions football coaches Houston Texans coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Michigan Wolverines football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Chicago Bears coaches People from Barberton, Ohio University of Minnesota alumni