Coaches | Houston Texans - HoustonTexans.com

Ben McDaniels enters his fourth year with the Texans, working as the wide receivers coach/offensive passing game coordinator in 2024. Owning 21 years of coaching experience, including 10 years in the NFL, McDaniels joined the Texans after three seasons (2018-20) at the University of Michigan as the quarterbacks coach (2019-20) and an offensive analyst (2018).

Ben McDaniels enters his fourth year with the Texans, working as the wide receivers coach/offensive passing game coordinator in 2024. Owning 21 years of coaching experience, including 10 years in the NFL, McDaniels joined the Texans after three seasons (2018-20) at the University of Michigan as the quarterbacks coach (2019-20) and an offensive analyst (2018).

In 2023, McDaniels worked with a wide receivers group that set a number of records en route to finishing atop the AFC South for the seventh time in franchise history. McDaniels was instrumental in the growth of WR Nico Collins and rookie WR Tank Dell, who both evolved into vital components of the Texans offense in 2023. In his third NFL season, Collins had the best year of his career, recording 80 catches for 1,297 yards and eight touchdowns, all of which marked career highs. He joined DeAndre Hopkins and Andre Johnson as the only receivers in franchise history to eclipse 1,200 single-season receiving yards. Collins also set the single-season franchise record for receptions of 20-plus yards after posting 25. And despite his season getting cut short due to injury, Dell finished a promising rookie campaign with 47 receptions, 709 yards and seven touchdowns through 11 games played. Dell owns three of the five top performances by a first-year wideout in club history, including a 149-yard performance in the Week 11 win vs. Arizona, which was the most receiving yards in a single game by a Texans rookie. Additionally, Dell's seven touchdowns are also the most receiving touchdowns by a rookie in franchise history. WR Noah Brown also enjoyed a career year under McDaniel's tutelage, setting a career high in receiving yards (567) and finishing fourth in the NFL in yards per catch (17.2 avg.). Among other accolades, the Texans wide receiver corps was the only group in the NFL to have three players average at least 15.0 yards per catch (Brown, 17.4 avg, Collins – 16.2 avg., Dell – 15.1 avg.).

During the 2022 season, McDaniels oversaw the production of WR Brandin Cooks, who tallied 57 receptions for 699 receiving yards and three touchdowns. With Cooks surpassing 500 receiving yards on the year, he joined WR DeAndre Hopkins, WR Mike Evans, TE Travis Kelce and WR Robert Woods as the five players to record over 500 receiving yards in nine straight seasons. Under the guidance of McDaniels, WR Chris Moore posted career highs in receptions (48) and receiving yards (548), tallying 321 more yards than he did last season, which was good for the 18th-best yard differential in the NFL.

In 2021, McDaniels served as assistant wide receivers/offensive assistant. He helped mentor Cooks, who led the Texans in receptions (90), receiving yards (1,037) and receiving touchdowns (6) while finishing third in the NFL with 459 receiving yards on third down. The eighth-year veteran posted his sixth career season of 1,000-plus receiving yards, becoming the third player in Texans history to reach the mark in consecutive seasons. McDaniels also worked with rookie Collins, whose 13.5 yards per reception average ranked third in the NFL among rookie wide receivers (minimum 30 receptions).

As the quarterbacks coach at Michigan in 2020 under Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, McDaniels worked with first-year starters Joe Milton and Cade McNamara. The Wolverines only played six games, but averaged 250.3 passing yards per game. The two quarterbacks combined to only throw four interceptions on the season, which was the lowest in the Big Ten conference. Milton went on to achieve single-game career-highs in passing yards (344) and touchdowns (3) at Indiana (11/2).

Under McDaniels, QB Shea Patterson threw for the second-highest single-season passing total in Michigan history (3,061 yards) in 2019. Patterson finished as the school's all-time leader in passing yards per game (217.7), second in lowest interception percentage (2.12), tied for second in 200-yard passing games (9), and fifth in efficiency rating (143.1). He threw 22 touchdowns in 2019 and set the single-game record with five at Indiana (11/23).

Michigan's passing attack helped the Wolverines average 35.7 points over the final six games of 2019. Patterson's 1,055 passing yards over a three-game stretch marked the most by any quarterback in program history and his 384 yards against Michigan State (11/16) was the third-highest single-game total in Michigan history.

McDaniels came to Ann Arbor after two years (2016-17) as an offensive assistant under coach John Fox with the Chicago Bears. There, he worked with the wide receivers in 2016 and helped mentor the tight ends in 2017. In 2016, WR Cameron Meredith set career highs in receiving yards (888), receptions (66) and receiving touchdowns (four) in just his second NFL season.

Prior to his time in Chicago, McDaniels coached at Rutgers University for two seasons as offensive coordinator / quarterbacks coach (2015) and wide receivers coach (2014) under Head Coach Kyle Flood. McDaniels helped WR Leonte Caroo finish as Rutgers' career leader in receiving touchdowns (29), second in 100-yard receiving games (12) and third in receiving yards (2,373). He also set the program record with 10 touchdown catches in both 2014 and 2015.

McDaniels spent the 2012-13 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive assistant under Greg Schiano, working with Pro Bowlers WR Vincent Jackson and RB Doug Martin in 2012. Jackson and Martin helped set franchise records in passing yards (3,983), total yards (5,820) and points scored (389). The following season QB Mike Glennon set rookie franchise records for passing yards (2,608) and touchdowns (19).

McDaniels was with the Denver Broncos as an offensive assistant (2009) and quarterbacks coach (2010) the prior two seasons where he helped direct the NFL's seventh-best passing offense (252.4 yards per game) in 2010. During that season, QBs Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow combined for 4,307 passing yards and 25 touchdowns, with six rushing scores added from Tebow.

Returning to Ohio, McDaniels coached quarterbacks at his alma mater, Canton McKinley, for two seasons (2006-07) and worked at Jackson High School during the fall 2008 before landing his first NFL position.

He was a two-year graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota (2004-05) under Head Coach Glen Mason, coaching wide receivers (2004) and defensive backs (2005), while earning his master's degree in sport management.

McDaniels rose in the high school ranks, beginning his career in 2003 as the wide receivers coach at Warren G. Harding High School. McDaniels worked with his father, Thom McDaniels, who was the 1997 USA Today National Coach of the Year and is a member of the Ohio High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

A native of Canton, Ohio, McDaniels led Canton McKinley to a 37-3 record and two state championships in his three years as a starting quarterback, including a USA Today National Championship in 1997. He went on to play quarterback at Kent State from 1999-2001, earning his bachelor's degree in sport management.

McDaniels and his wife, Kyle, reside in Missouri City, Texas, with their daughters, Kinley and Meadow, and son, Brooks.