Coaches | Houston Texans - HoustonTexans.com

Ben McDaniels enters his third year with the Texans, working as the wide receivers coach/offensive passing game coordinator in 2023. Owning 20 years of coaching experience, including eight 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 third year with the Texans, working as the wide receivers coach/offensive passing game coordinator in 2023. Owning 20 years of coaching experience, including eight 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).

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. WR Nico Collins also boasted career-highs in 2022, catching 37 passes for 481 yards and two scores.

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, 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 NFL's 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). 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, 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 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. 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.

COACHING CAREER

2022-23 Wide Receivers/Offensive Passing Game Coordinator Houston Texans

2021 Assistant Wide Receivers/Offensive Assistant Houston Texans

2019-20 Quarterbacks University of Michigan

2018 Offensive Analyst University of Michigan

2016-17 Offensive Assistant Chicago Bears

2015 Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Rutgers

2014 Wide Receivers Rutgers

2012-13 Offensive Assistant Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2010 Quarterbacks Denver Broncos

2009 Offensive Assistant Denver Broncos

2008 Assistant Coach Jackson High School

2006-07 Quarterbacks Canton McKinley High School

2004-05 Graduate Assistant University of Minnesota

2003 Assistant Coach Warren G. Harding High School