Mike McDaniel Clarifies How He Called "Dibs" on His Wife

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel clarifies his love story, explaining that he didn't bully one of his former players to secure attention of the woman who is now is wife

Mike McDaniel's "How I Met My Wife" story got shared during the Miami Dolphins' 34-13 blowout win over the New York Jets, and the Dolphins' head coach attempted to fill in some gaps on Monday, hoping it would paint him in a better light than the broadcast version did.

"It was a cool, light hearted story that took a [ugly] turn," McDaniel said of broadcaster Al Michael's recap of his love story's origin, which was brought up midway through the fourth quarter, as the Dolphins were manhandling a 4-7 Jets team.

Michael's revealed that McDaniel met his wife, Katie Hemstalk, at a nightclub while his Sacramento Mountain Lions team were celebrating a UFL victory, and allegedly stole her from one of his players.

“Mike McDaniel tells us a story today,” Michaels said. “We're talking to him and I said, ‘Tell me a Sacramento Mountain Lions story.' The United Football League, 2010, he's the running backs coach. They blow out Omaha, they go to a nightclub to celebrate. One of the running backs that he coaches is dancing with a girl and Mike says, ‘Listen, you're not dancing with her anymore or you're not playing with this team next year.' So the guy says, ‘What can I do?' So then McDaniel starts dancing with her—that's the beginning of the story. Four years later, they're married. Katie, that's how he met her. ‘Hey you, get off. I'm dancing with her.'”

The story of how Mike McDaniel met his wife is too funny 😂 pic.twitter.com/QvEtUTZ75A

— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2023

According to McDaniel, some of the fact got distorted in Michaels' recap.

"The skeleton of the story is correct, but there are a couple of important caveats," McDaniel said.

First, the "perceived threat," to former UMass tailback Steve Baylark was an over the top joke, according to McDaniel.

 "It was in jest," McDaniel said. "My wife was talking about me stealing people's girl. The dude had met her for 45 seconds....It was a very unique scenario. It was a special place in our memories.

"I feel like I was painted out to be a D-bag," McDaniel clarifies. "It wasn't like that at all. It was nice and easy. We were celebrating as a team. I think Steve Baylark was well aware when I made that joke in jest it was more important to me than it was to him. And I'm pretty sure I was right. I have a family now."

McDaniel and Hemstalk got married in 2014 and have a three-year-old daughter named Alya June together.

When asked if it was the dance moves that won Hemstalk over, McDaniel joked "Clearly. It wasn't my physical disposition. I promise you that."