Former NFL coach sues league for racist hiring policies

By George Pritchard, ‘23

Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores is suing the NFL for racism. Flores, who is Black, is alleging three NFL teams discriminated against him in their hiring process.

The 58-page class-action lawsuit levels accusations against the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants.

Flores, who was the Dolphins coach from 2019-21, is claiming that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross incentivized him to lose, offering to pay Flores 100,000 dollars for every loss by the team. This phenomenon of intentionally losing to get a better draft pick, known as “tanking,” has gained popularity in previous years, but financial compensation for losing is against the NFL’s competition policies.

The second of Flores’s claims is against the Denver Broncos. Flores is alleging that in 2019 when the team interviewed him for their head coaching vacancy, the general manager and owner showed up to the interview hungover, and Flores was not given a legitimate shot at being hired.

Both the Dolphins and Broncos have denied these claims.

The majority of the lawsuit, though, is centered around racism within the NFL. And Flores is using his recent experience with the New York Giants as evidence.

Flores was a candidate for the vacant head coach position for the Giants and interviewed for it on January 27, 2022. The team ended up selecting Brian Daboll, the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills, as their new head coach. However, Flores is claiming they had decided that long before Flores’s interview.

In leaked text messages from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Belichick congratulates someone for being selected as Giants head coach. He is attempting to text Daboll, the coach who actually got hired, but accidentally texted Flores.

Belichick's texts with Flores (via ESPN)

Critically, these texts from Belichick were prior to Flores’s interview, showcasing that the team had already decided on Daboll and that Flores did not have a legitimate shot at being hired.

This begs the question - why was he even interviewed in the first place if he wasn’t going to be selected? According to Flores, it was just because the Giants needed to abide by the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule is a rule put in place by the NFL in order to increase diversity within the teams’ staff. The rule states that teams must interview “at least two external minority candidates for open head coaching positions.”

Flores claims he was interviewed merely for this reason and wasn’t seriously being considered for the head coach position.

The lawsuit is centralized around the lack of diversity in the NFL, and it is clear that’s what Flores is fighting against.

“We need change,” said Flores in an interview with ESPN. “We need to change the hearts and minds of the people making decisions.”

Flores has the data to back up his claims as well. Despite versions of the Rooney Rule being in place since 2003, currently, there are only two Black head coaches in the NFL, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans.

0% of owners and less than 7% of head coaches are Black, despite more than 70% of the leagues' players being Black. According to Flores’s lawsuit, he believes the league is still racist.

Current NFL Head Coaches (via Flores’s Lawsuit)

“In certain critical ways, the NFL is racially segregated and is managed much like a plantation,” the lawsuit reads. “The owners watch the games from atop NFL stadiums in their luxury boxes, while their majority-Black workforce put their bodies on the line every Sunday.”

Catlin Gabel School junior Alex Proksch, an avid NFL viewer, highlighted issues within the Rooney Rule.

“You can always set quotas for the number of people of color that teams need to interview, but as this situation shows, those quotas can be met without really giving people of color a fair shot at the role,” Proksch said. “I hope Flores’s lawsuit brings more Black coaches into the league, but I think it’ll definitely be an uphill battle.

In a February 1st memo, the NFL initially denied these claims.

“We will defend against these claims, which are without merit,” the memo read.

However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has since backtracked on this initial denial and vowed to reassess the league’s diversity and inclusion policies.

“We have made significant efforts to promote diversity and adopted numerous policies and programs which have produced positive change in many areas, however, we must acknowledge that, particularly with respect to head coach, the results have been unacceptable,” said Goodell in a memo to all 32 teams.

“We will reevaluate and examine all policies, guidelines, and initiatives relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

Since initiating the lawsuit, Flores was hired on February 19 by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a defensive assistant/linebackers coach. Despite this hiring, Flores is continuing his lawsuit against the NFL.