As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Carolina Panthers defensive game passing coordinator and secondary coach Steve Wilks has joined Brian Flores’ discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.
In the amended complaints, Wilks alleges he was unfairly and discriminatorily fired by the Arizona Cardinals following the 2018 campaign. Arizona hired Wilks as head coach that year, only to dismiss him that very same season in what the 52-year-old described as a no-win situation.
“Mr. Wilks was replaced by a white coach, Kliff Kingsbury, who had no prior NFL coaching experience and was coming off of multiple losing seasons as a Head Coach at Texas Tech,” per the complaint. “Mr. Kingsbury, armed with quarterback Kyler Murray, has been given a much longer leash than Mr. Wilks and, to his credit, has succeeded. That said, Mr. Wilks, given the same opportunity afforded to Mr. Kingsbury, surely would have succeeded as well.”
On Feb. 1, Flores filed a class action lawsuit claiming he and multiple Black coaches have been denied numerous opportunities due to the league’s racist hiring practices. Ray Horton, who had began as a coach back in 1994, is also included alongside Wilks in the new complaints.
Wilks said the following in a statement released on Thursday:
“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him. This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates. That is not currently the case, and I look forward to working with Coach Flores and Coach Horton to ensure that the aspiration of racial equality in the NFL becomes a reality.”
The Charlotte, N.C. native, who spent six previous seasons with the Panthers, was hired back by the organization on Feb. 9.
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