Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores says that the recent text messages between he and Patriots coach Bill Belichick — which became the impetus for Flores' racial discrimination lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams — are emblematic of one of the league's biggest problems.
Flores appeared on NPR's "The Limits" podcast with ESPN personality and former NBA player Jay Williams and chronicled the events of the past few years that led Flores to filing the class-action suit.
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Chief among them were the texts between Belichick and Flores. In them, Belichick congratulated who he thought was Brian Daboll on landing the Giants head coaching job, only to have mistakenly texted Flores. Flores said the exchange inspired him to finally take legal action.
"It was a text message from Bill Belichick that confirmed a lot of the things that I believed were going on for Blacks, minorities in the hiring process. That was the tipping point for me," he said. "That confirmation was something that — I felt like I had to say something. I couldn't stay silent because, you know, Dr. Martin Luther King said, you know, a long, long time ago, there comes a time where silence becomes betrayal. I wasn't going to do that."
RESPONSES TO FLORES' LAWSUIT:
Giants | Stephen Ross | John Elway
Flores had yet to be interviewed for the Giants opening at the time he received Belichick's texts and he wouldn't be for another three days, he said. He later received a text from Belichick congratulating him on getting the job. To Flores, though, this showed that Belichick is involved behind the scenes and has undue influence on other teams' decisions.
I do think that there are back-channel conversations, back-channel meetings that are had that oftentimes influence decisions. And I think that's a clear example of that. You know, here's Bill Belichick. And, you know, his resume speaks for itself. He has influence. I think, to me, that — it was clear that that decision was made with his influence, and that's part of the problem. And that's — that needs to change. There needs to be a fair and equal opportunity to interview and showcase — like I said before, showcase your abilities to lead and earn one of those positions.
In the interview with Williams, as in the lawsuit, Flores said that he's not the only Black coach to have received this treatment or felt as though they were merely a box to be checked when it came to the Rooney Rule.
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Again, this isn't about me. My story is just an example — you know, one of probably many examples of situations where Black and minority coaches aren't getting the equal opportunity to interview, showcase their ability, showcase their acumen, showcase their leadership in front of these owners. I'm not sure Daboll had even gotten in front of them. But Blacks and minorities aren't given that opportunity, and it was confirmed to me that day.
It remains to be seen what the next steps will be for Flores, the NFL and the other parties involved. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio speculated that the NFL could avoid a trial by making a motion in court to have an arbitrator appointed by commissioner Roger Goodell hear the case, citing the terms of the standard contract for NFL coaches. Arbitration would essentially keep testimony from being made public, Florio noted.