Mike McDaniel and Katie Hemstalk met at a nightclub in 2010 — and it almost cost the football coach a player.
“One of the running backs that [McDaniel] 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 then McDaniel starts dancing with her,” sports commentator Al Michaels said while retelling the couple’s meet-cute story on national television in November 2023. “Four years later, they’re married. Katie, that’s how he met her.”
Hemstalk and McDaniel wed in 2014 and went on to welcome their daughter, Alya June, in 2020. The family of three currently resides in Miami, where McDaniel was appointed head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2022.
“People can’t do anything by themselves. Anything at all. I’d have no chance without my wife,” the NFL coach said during a press conference in November 2022 when asked who he was most thankful for.
So, who is Mike McDaniel’s wife, Katie Hemstalk? Here’s everything to know about McDaniel’s biggest supporter.
She is a licensed esthetician
Hemstalk is a professional esthetician and cosmetologist. According to California Department of Consumer Affairs public records, Hemstalk has been a licensed esthetician since 2005. She also previously worked as a licensed cosmetologist from 2011 to 2023.
She and McDaniel got married in 2014
After five years of dating, the pair tied the knot in a beautiful outdoor ceremony on June 21, 2014. The wedding took place in Ashburn, Virginia, located about an hour outside of Washington D.C., where McDaniel was working as a wide receivers coach for the Washington Commanders at the time.
In a photo posted to Facebook by the bride’s mother, Hemstalk is wearing a white gown with a sweetheart neckline and ruffled skirt, which she paired with a blinged collar necklace and matching bracelet. She and McDaniel are holding hands, while he stands opposite of her in a dark gray suit.
They lived in several cities before relocating to Miami
Over the course of McDaniel’s nearly 20-year career in the NFL, the couple have lived in seven different cities before eventually relocating to Miami. According to McDaniel’s Miami Dolphins bio, he got his start with the Denver Broncos and went on to work with the Houston Texans and Sacramento Mountain Lions, before settling down in Washington for three seasons.
After earning his first official NFL position coach job with the Washington Commanders, McDaniel went to serve as the wide receivers coach for the Cleveland Browns in 2014. However, he was only with them for a year and left for the Atlanta Falcons. He and Hemstalk lived there for two years, but eventually ended up in San Francisco.
McDaniel saw huge success with the San Francisco 49ers. In 2017, he joined the staff as the team’s run game specialist and was promoted to coordinator in 2018. He was promoted once more to offensive coordinator in 2021.
The Miami Dolphins came in and scooped him as head coach for the 2022 season.
They share a daughter
In 2020, Hemstalk and McDaniel became a party of three with the birth of their adorable daughter, Alya June. The mother-daughter duo have made a handful of media appearances in support of McDaniel, including at his introductory press conference as head coach of the Miami Dolphins in 2022. While giving his opening speech, McDaniel paused for a moment to acknowledge his wife and daughter in the front row.
“My wife, Katie McDaniel. We’ve come a long way. We’ve got a long way to go,” he said, holding back tears. “And my daughter, Ayla June McDaniel, you are a miracle and I can’t wait to see what you grow into.”
McDaniel spends his days off with his family
Rest and spending quality time with family is of the utmost importance to McDaniel, which is why he instructed his team to take six consecutive days off during their bye week in the 2022 season. Teams are mandated to give players four straight days of rest, but McDaniel saw to it that he and the team approach the latter half of the season with a clear, well-rested mindset. For McDaniel, that meant getting some one-on-one time with his wife and daughter.
“So I’m a leader by example. I’m going to show these guys how to rest my butt off, and then when I’m not asleep, I’ll be daddying and husbanding,” McDaniel told Sports Illustrated’s Fan Nation. “I’ll have some honey-dos. I’ll do my chores, because I won’t want to be in the doghouse.”
When he’s “daddying,” McDaniel said that he’ll probably be wearing a very special pair of shoes of his that feature painted headshots of he and Alya on them. “I’ll probably be wearing them doing dad duty all week while I take out the trash,” he laughed.