Brian Flores sues NFL as coach alleges racism in hiring practices
February 2, 2022 10:24 AM Subscribe
Brian Flores is a former coach for the New England Patriots and the recently fired coach of the Miami Dolphins. In 2019, Flores interviewed for the Denver Broncos HC job. He's alleging that he was never a serious candidate and only interviewed to meet the requirements of the Rooney Rule, which stipulated that teams have to interview minority candidates for HC jobs. He's alleging that the interview team for the Broncos, including Joh Elway, showed up late and drunk/hung over to his interview.
Flores was hired to be the HC of of the Miami Dolphins and he's alleging that while there, the owner of the team Stephen Ross attempted to bribe Flores to throw games so the Dolphins would have a better draft position (to the tune of $100,000 per loss). He's also alleging that Ross attempted to make Flores violate league tampering rules by trying to convince a player still under contract with another team to play with the Dolphins (arranging an "impromptu" meeting between Flores and the player on his yacht without informing Flores ahead of time.)
After being fired by the Dolphins, the Dolphins also appear to have attempted to smear Flores in the press.
Finally, Flores was interviewing to be the HC of the Giants. Bill Belichick accidentally texted Flores congratulating him on getting the job, when he actually meant to text another former coach of his, Brian Daboll. Belichick's text seems to reveal that the Giants had decided to hire Daboll before even interviewing Flores.
This could represent evidence of a violation of the Rooney Rule.
More broadly, with his accusations against the Broncos and Giants, Flores is accusing the NFL of being racist in their hiring practices and that the Rooney Rule is largely a sham.
Flores was hired to be the HC of of the Miami Dolphins and he's alleging that while there, the owner of the team Stephen Ross attempted to bribe Flores to throw games so the Dolphins would have a better draft position (to the tune of $100,000 per loss). He's also alleging that Ross attempted to make Flores violate league tampering rules by trying to convince a player still under contract with another team to play with the Dolphins (arranging an "impromptu" meeting between Flores and the player on his yacht without informing Flores ahead of time.)
After being fired by the Dolphins, the Dolphins also appear to have attempted to smear Flores in the press.
Finally, Flores was interviewing to be the HC of the Giants. Bill Belichick accidentally texted Flores congratulating him on getting the job, when he actually meant to text another former coach of his, Brian Daboll. Belichick's text seems to reveal that the Giants had decided to hire Daboll before even interviewing Flores.
This could represent evidence of a violation of the Rooney Rule.
More broadly, with his accusations against the Broncos and Giants, Flores is accusing the NFL of being racist in their hiring practices and that the Rooney Rule is largely a sham.
Racist football owners? No shit. Football rewards men for being the most regressive dumb fucks imaginable. And that's coming from someone who serve in the US military.
Glad someone is fighting back.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:37 AM on February 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
Glad someone is fighting back.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:37 AM on February 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
Lawyers, guns, and money covers the lawsuit here and here. Is there any governing body in sports that isn’t odious?
posted by TedW at 10:48 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by TedW at 10:48 AM on February 2, 2022
And if you want another reason to dislike the NFL, there’s also it’s treatment of the dancers in the Super Bowl halftime show.
posted by TedW at 10:59 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by TedW at 10:59 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
I think everyone already knows the Rooney Rule is a sham and that minority coach interviews are generally just fig leafs to get by it, but there's plausible deniability there. But, you know, come on.
I've been waiting to listen to the Dan LeBatard show on this all day. They're a Miami-based podcast (formerly a national ESPN radio show, but they were a bit too "woke" for the ESPN execs), and have been highly skeptical of Flores' firing from day one. Once the Dolphins started the smear campaign, consisting mainly of accusations that Flores acted like a football coach, their take was that he basically got fired for being an angry Black man (although it also seems like he was the one most eager to bring DeShaun Watson, of 26ish sexual assault accusations, to the team).
posted by LionIndex at 11:02 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've been waiting to listen to the Dan LeBatard show on this all day. They're a Miami-based podcast (formerly a national ESPN radio show, but they were a bit too "woke" for the ESPN execs), and have been highly skeptical of Flores' firing from day one. Once the Dolphins started the smear campaign, consisting mainly of accusations that Flores acted like a football coach, their take was that he basically got fired for being an angry Black man (although it also seems like he was the one most eager to bring DeShaun Watson, of 26ish sexual assault accusations, to the team).
posted by LionIndex at 11:02 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think everyone already knows the Rooney Rule is a sham and that minority coach interviews are generally just fig leafs to get by it
That's interesting. Last May, another former NFL coach says he was turned away because he was "not the right minority."
posted by Borborygmus at 11:14 AM on February 2, 2022
That's interesting. Last May, another former NFL coach says he was turned away because he was "not the right minority."
posted by Borborygmus at 11:14 AM on February 2, 2022
The Dolphins owner is Stephen M. Ross, like many NFL owners he's a big Trump guy, in fact he's one of the biggest public Trumpers among the Billionaire set.
posted by chaz at 11:18 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by chaz at 11:18 AM on February 2, 2022
Anyone with the inclination should read the complaint in this case. It is simply phenomenal.
posted by Gadarene at 11:28 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Gadarene at 11:28 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
That's interesting. Last May, another former NFL coach says he was turned away because he was "not the right minority."
I'd like for you to explain why that's interesting in the context of whether the Rooney Rule is a sham or not.
posted by LionIndex at 11:32 AM on February 2, 2022
I'd like for you to explain why that's interesting in the context of whether the Rooney Rule is a sham or not.
posted by LionIndex at 11:32 AM on February 2, 2022
Coming up today on Metafilter, the role of Spotify will be played by the NFL.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:57 AM on February 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:57 AM on February 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
Update from this afternoon:
https://www.totalprosports.com/2022/02/02/brian-flores-reveals-that-others-coaches-have-been-in-contact-to-say-they-were-offered-money-to-lose/?fbclid=IwAR0j9X-3Ert6iSIQ3X70bbe-sfeZWPg5AE4PKeDxxGgVEviMYr2zPZmsXkc
posted by 47WaysToLeaveYourLover at 2:47 PM on February 2, 2022
https://www.totalprosports.com/2022/02/02/brian-flores-reveals-that-others-coaches-have-been-in-contact-to-say-they-were-offered-money-to-lose/?fbclid=IwAR0j9X-3Ert6iSIQ3X70bbe-sfeZWPg5AE4PKeDxxGgVEviMYr2zPZmsXkc
posted by 47WaysToLeaveYourLover at 2:47 PM on February 2, 2022
Hue Jackson (ex Browns HC) has already said so publicly.
posted by LionIndex at 2:49 PM on February 2, 2022
posted by LionIndex at 2:49 PM on February 2, 2022
Denver resident. Not surprised at all by the broncos doing this.
posted by nickggully at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nickggully at 3:10 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Option A, the Rooney Rule is a sham and the interviews with minority candidates are theater, in which case why would the idea of "right minority" enter* into the interviewer's head? Option B, they're not a sham, so they had a "right minority that [they're] looking for" and nonetheless wasted Chung's time by conducting an interview with him anyhow. The end square of this flow chart is still "what a dipshit" either way.
*Option C: The person who said this was an idiot and attempting to construct some sort of theory of mind for a moron is a fool's errand.
posted by axiom at 4:05 PM on February 2, 2022
*Option C: The person who said this was an idiot and attempting to construct some sort of theory of mind for a moron is a fool's errand.
posted by axiom at 4:05 PM on February 2, 2022
Option A, the Rooney Rule is a sham and the interviews with minority candidates are theater, in which case why would the idea of "right minority" enter* into the interviewer's head? Option B, they're not a sham, so they had a "right minority that [they're] looking for" and nonetheless wasted Chung's time by conducting an interview with him anyhow. The end square of this flow chart is still "what a dipshit" either way.
Exactly. It seemed like that situation was brought up as if it was somehow a counter to the idea that the Rooney Rule was a sham.
posted by LionIndex at 4:30 PM on February 2, 2022
Exactly. It seemed like that situation was brought up as if it was somehow a counter to the idea that the Rooney Rule was a sham.
posted by LionIndex at 4:30 PM on February 2, 2022
Sounds to me like they are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 8:16 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 8:16 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
That filing is just amazing, a compendium of the racial disparity of the NFL laid bare. Can't help but think about this in terms of Sean McVay, about to play in his second superbowl, and his trajectory as a head coach.
He entered the coaching ranks immediately after college, working under many coaches with offensive pedigree, as he moved between three organizations. He had legacy, his grandfather was a coach since the fifties, and tied into many NFL franchises, and also has an uncle who makes a million dollars a year running a bowl game (pay the players not the admin). And he got his start via John Gruden, one mentioned so much in the complaint, the encapsulation of the modern NFL and its racism.
I think about how once a black coach has a head coaching job, they never get a second chance. So I can see how Flores spent 14 years with the Patriots organization, to work his way up to defensive coordinator before he took a head coaching job. How could he move around when the same opportunities weren't allowed to him which were allowed to McVay? He didn't even have the opportunity to be a position coach immediately! Those opportunities were afforded to those who worked with McVay, incidentally all white, one of whom is coaching against him in the superbowl.
Is McVay the right comparison? I think about how success is about how much you can fail, and how once again sports mirrors our society and its awful discrepancies.
posted by Brainstorming Time! at 9:18 PM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
He entered the coaching ranks immediately after college, working under many coaches with offensive pedigree, as he moved between three organizations. He had legacy, his grandfather was a coach since the fifties, and tied into many NFL franchises, and also has an uncle who makes a million dollars a year running a bowl game (pay the players not the admin). And he got his start via John Gruden, one mentioned so much in the complaint, the encapsulation of the modern NFL and its racism.
I think about how once a black coach has a head coaching job, they never get a second chance. So I can see how Flores spent 14 years with the Patriots organization, to work his way up to defensive coordinator before he took a head coaching job. How could he move around when the same opportunities weren't allowed to him which were allowed to McVay? He didn't even have the opportunity to be a position coach immediately! Those opportunities were afforded to those who worked with McVay, incidentally all white, one of whom is coaching against him in the superbowl.
Is McVay the right comparison? I think about how success is about how much you can fail, and how once again sports mirrors our society and its awful discrepancies.
posted by Brainstorming Time! at 9:18 PM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Bears just played along with this sham, too. They had Jim Caldwell in for interviews, and it was reported that he’d presented the team with an offensive scheme entirely built around Justin Fields, the Bears presumptive quarterback of the future. Especially after two rounds of playoff games literally decided by who had the ball last, and by the arms of each team’s quarterback, the general shift in the league is that the offense is the foremost concern.
Instead, the Bears announced the hiring of a white defensive coordinator. Having done the legal minimum to satisfy the Rooney Rule, they remain content to cram their heads so far under the sand that they’ll never have to see what success looks like.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:52 PM on February 2, 2022
Instead, the Bears announced the hiring of a white defensive coordinator. Having done the legal minimum to satisfy the Rooney Rule, they remain content to cram their heads so far under the sand that they’ll never have to see what success looks like.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:52 PM on February 2, 2022
I think the biggest blow Flores struck against the NFL today, and it may end up being the biggest blow any coach has ever struck against the NFL, is the revelation that he was offered money by the Dolphin's owner to lose games in order to improve the Dolphin's position in the draft.
The gambling implications alone are absolutely staggering, and someone associated with a kind of an archive of Hue Jackson's papers came forward this afternoon and said that they had documents and emails backing up Jackson's corroborative claim of a similar situation in Cleveland, and that Roger Goodell and the NFL head office knew all about it.
There was a game earlier this season between Pittsburgh and Minnesota in which referee Tony Corrente blatantly, in my opinion, threw the game to Pittsburgh by making a ridiculous taunting call against Minnesota. He waited at least 5 seconds to make the call in the first place, the longest delay I can remember between a play and a flag, until the players involved in the play, including the player he called for taunting, had turned away and were running off the field, and even then threw the flag only after he (Corrente!) had deliberately hip-checked that Minnesota player and almost knocked him off his feet! I have never seen anything like it on a football field. Earlier in that game, Corrente had called a 15 yard chopblock foul on a Minnesota player during a Minnesota drive which looked likely to result in a touchdown. Replays showed unequivocally that no physical contact at all took place between the player Corrente said was chopblocked and the Minnesota player he called the foul on. Nor had any other player chopblocked the Pittsburgh player.
Pittsburgh would not have made the playoffs without that win, but nobody thought they would do anything if they did, and that turned out to be the case. I didn’t see the logic of throwing that game for Pittsburgh's sake, and thought there must be a betting angle involved. It did not occur to me that Minnesota might have improved its draft position by losing the game.
posted by jamjam at 10:02 PM on February 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
The gambling implications alone are absolutely staggering, and someone associated with a kind of an archive of Hue Jackson's papers came forward this afternoon and said that they had documents and emails backing up Jackson's corroborative claim of a similar situation in Cleveland, and that Roger Goodell and the NFL head office knew all about it.
There was a game earlier this season between Pittsburgh and Minnesota in which referee Tony Corrente blatantly, in my opinion, threw the game to Pittsburgh by making a ridiculous taunting call against Minnesota. He waited at least 5 seconds to make the call in the first place, the longest delay I can remember between a play and a flag, until the players involved in the play, including the player he called for taunting, had turned away and were running off the field, and even then threw the flag only after he (Corrente!) had deliberately hip-checked that Minnesota player and almost knocked him off his feet! I have never seen anything like it on a football field. Earlier in that game, Corrente had called a 15 yard chopblock foul on a Minnesota player during a Minnesota drive which looked likely to result in a touchdown. Replays showed unequivocally that no physical contact at all took place between the player Corrente said was chopblocked and the Minnesota player he called the foul on. Nor had any other player chopblocked the Pittsburgh player.
Pittsburgh would not have made the playoffs without that win, but nobody thought they would do anything if they did, and that turned out to be the case. I didn’t see the logic of throwing that game for Pittsburgh's sake, and thought there must be a betting angle involved. It did not occur to me that Minnesota might have improved its draft position by losing the game.
posted by jamjam at 10:02 PM on February 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
I live in North Jersey, so I've been particularly fascinated with the claims against the Giants. Devil's advocate, based on the information presented in the complaint, how strong do the allegations against the Giants look vis-a-vis the hiring process? At first glance that Belichick text looks incredibly damning, but if you parse the language, he just says that he THINKS the other Brian (Daboll) was hired. Unless they actually depose or serve discovery on Belichick wherein he confirms yes, he was absolutely told by an insider that Daboll had been hired beforehand, this seems juicy but ultimately circumstantial.
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:40 AM on February 3, 2022
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:40 AM on February 3, 2022
Sadly, I expect club execs have a section in their Rolodexes labeled “Rooney rule” into which they place contact info of black coaches to use only for the purposes of satisfying the rule with no intention of ever hiring one.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 6:02 AM on February 3, 2022
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 6:02 AM on February 3, 2022
I thought this was really interesting was waiting for someone to post it here. I’m not a football fan but I appreciate many people are. Still, this is a sport in which results in brain damage for its players, who are largely Black. So for me it’s like the restaurant critic who says the food is terrible and the portions are so small! The only real news is that people are being paid to throw games. Surely that is illegal and surely somebody’s ass can be nailed to the wall for that. I certainly hope so.
posted by Bella Donna at 10:35 AM on February 3, 2022
posted by Bella Donna at 10:35 AM on February 3, 2022
And the Houston Texans are ordered to take the hit and hire Lovie Smith as HC to "protect the shield". And I mean that - they had been making it clear that they planned to hire Josh McCown, a white man with no coaching experience at either the pro or D-1A levels - but since they hadn't formally invested McCown as the HC, they get to be the sacrificial lamb given the current state of the franchise (that being "bombed out tenement" given Bill O'Brien having given away their draft capital for a bag of "magic" beans and their quarterback being a serial sexual abuser who has the law catching up to him.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:20 AM on February 8, 2022
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:20 AM on February 8, 2022
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