In his four-year career in the NFL, Tua Tagovailoa has had the opportunity to work under two different head coaches. And if you ask him which one he prefers, the answer is pretty clear. It turns out, Tagovailoa didn’t exactly enjoy his time playing for former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who was in Miami for two seasons with Tagovailoa (2020-2021).
During a recent interview on “The Dan LeBetard show with Stugotz,” Tagovailoa didn’t hold back when asked to compare his current head coach, Mike McDaniel, with Flores. The usually reserved Tagovailoa used the opportunity to express his feelings about his old coach.
“To put it in the simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this,” Tagovailoa said, describing Flores’ coaching style. “And then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You’re accurate. You’re the best whatever, you’re this, you’re that.’ How would it make you feel listening to one or the other?”
Tagovailoa’s response highlighted the stark contrast between McDaniel and Flores. While McDaniel is an extremely positive coach, Flores apparently took on a more negative approach to coaching, using it as a way to motivate his players, which didn’t necessarily work well for him in Miami.
Tagovailoa’s time under Flores was tumultuous. After being selected with the fifth overall pick, Tagovailoa didn’t immediately earn the starting role. Flores opted to start Ryan Fitzpatrick at the beginning of the 2020 season, keeping Tagovailoa on the bench until later in the year. Even after securing the starting position, Tagovailoa faced challenges as Flores benched him twice during the 2020 season in favor of Fitzpatrick.
In 2021, things didn’t improve much with Flores actively trying to replace Tagovailoa with Deshaun Watson, who was on the trade block at the time.
Flores, who spent 11 seasons in New England before joining the Dolphins in 2019, seemed to take coaching cues from Bill Belichick, known for his tough coaching style. This approach didn’t sit well with Tagovailoa, who expressed his distaste for how Flores treated him.
“You hear it and you hear it — regardless of what is, the good or the bad — and you hear it more and more and you start to actually believe that,” Tagovailoa shared. “I don’t care who you are, you could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person who’s telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re going to start to believe that about yourself. That’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out.”
Following the 2021 season, Flores was let go, and McDaniel was brought in as the new head coach. Under McDaniel’s guidance, Tagovailoa has thrived, particularly in the 2021 season where he led the NFL in passing yards with 4,624, earning his first career Pro Bowl nod. The change in coaching staff seems to have made a world of difference for Tagovailoa’s performance on the field.