In a recent Amazon broadcast, veteran play-by-play announcer Al Michaels shared a tale of Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel’s unconventional courtship with his now-wife, Katie Hemstalk.
Michael detailed the decade-old story during Miami’s win over New York on Black Friday.
According to Michaels, the love story hit it off during McDaniel’s coaching days with the United Football League’s Sacramento Mountain Lions in 2010.
As the legend goes, after a winning game against Omaha, McDaniel allegedly issued a playful ultimatum to one of his running backs: stop dancing with a certain lady, or risk not being on the team next year.
When the player in question asked what he could do, McDaniel took matters into his own hands by hitting the dance floor himself, setting the stage for his eventual romantic rendezvous with Katie.
“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,'” Al Michaels narrated.
The story of how Mike McDaniel met his wife is too funny 😂 pic.twitter.com/QvEtUTZ75A
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2023
However, McDaniel, now in the spotlight for what some might consider a less-than-chivalrous approach to love, has stepped up to clarify the narrative.
As reported by the New York Post, McDaniel addressed what he sees as a misrepresentation of the events, eager to correct any misconceptions about his character.
“I feel like I was painted out to be kind of a d-bag, and it wasn’t like that at all,” McDaniel explained with a good-natured chuckle. “It was all niceties. It was a cool, light-hearted story that I felt like took a turn.”
The Dolphins coach emphasized that the essence of the story was accurate but highlighted a couple of crucial nuances that, in his opinion, altered the perception of the encounter.
McDaniel took particular issue with the portrayal of his supposed “threat” to the player, asserting that it was more of a jest than a genuine ultimatum.
“First of all, the perceived threat that I made to a player was over the top a joke, considering both he and I knew that as a running back coach I had no ability to say if he was there or not. It was more in jest,” McDaniel clarified.
He further defended his actions, asserting that the player involved, Steven Baylark, was fully aware of the lighthearted nature of the situation.
“The dude had met her for 45 seconds,” McDaniel noted, highlighting the brief encounter between Baylark and his now-wife, Katie.
Mike McDaniel tells real story of meeting wife after Al Michaels made him sound like ‘kind of a d-bag’ https://t.co/dGWbMJq4aM pic.twitter.com/A1JSV0Yz31
— New York Post (@nypost) November 28, 2023
Addressing the accusations of being a “Mr. Steal Yo Girl” type, McDaniel dismissed the notion, explaining that it was a mere joke and that Baylark understood the context.
“I mean, I have a family now. Like, good decision,” McDaniel quipped, referring to his marriage to Katie in 2014 and the birth of their three-year-old daughter, Alya June.
In the end, McDaniel attributed the success of his courtship to his dance moves, humorously suggesting that they were the true secret to winning Katie over.
Steven Baylark had a brief career in the NFL. He played as a running back and had stints with the Arizona Cardinals in 2007 and 2008, followed by a short period with the Denver Broncos in 2008.
After his time in the NFL, Baylark continued his football journey by joining the Sacramento Mountain Lions, where he played from 2010 to 2011.
