Tag: brian flores lawsuit

Former Dolphins HC Brian Flores’ lawsuit will head to court

The NFL had tried to make it heard in arbitration.

While the Miami Dolphins have been busy already this offseason, their former head coach is in the news, once again.

On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected arbitration of the lawsuit that was filed against the league and three teams by Brian Flores, who Miami fired last January. The suit claimed that the league was “rife with racism,” especially considering the hiring practices of Black coaches.

Flores’ claims against the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Houston Texans will be heard a decided by a jury, but those against the Dolphins, specifically, would have to be pursued through arbitration.

Flores claimed in the suit that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross told him that the coach would be paid $100,000 for every loss during the team’s 2019 season, his first with the team. He also alleged that he was pressured into tampering with a high-profile quarterback, and when he refused both he was painted in a negative light as someone who was angry and difficult to work with.

Douglas H. Wigdor, Flores’ lawyer, released a statement after the ruling, expressing mixed emotions regarding the results.

Now, it will take some time for any of this to be figured out, but the coach is closer to a resolution than he was before this stage.

Flores was recently hired as the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive coordinator after spending 2022 as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Brian Flores alleges he sent memo about tanking to high-level Dolphins executives

He also named another team and claimed that Miami is asking him to repay money that he earned.

A number of new items were brought up on Thursday in amendments made to former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and specifically, the Dolphins.

Carolina Panthers secondary coach Steve Wilks and former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton joined Flores’ class action lawsuit, claiming that they were not given the same opportunities as their white counterparts.

While that part is important, there were a couple of subjects that were specifically connected to the Dolphins that were mentioned.

One issue mentioned alleges that Flores, in 2019, sent memos to general manager Chris Grier, chief executive officer Tom Garfinkel and senior vice president of football and business administration Brandon Shore regarding “the toxicity that existed within the organization.”

According to the lawsuit, Flores “explained the unreasonable position he was being placed in by the team ownership and upper management.”

The former Dolphins coach also claims that “he was routinely made to feel uncomfortable based upon his decision not to tank in order to secure the top pick in the 2020 draft.”

If Grier, Garfinkel and Shore were all made aware of this situation in 2019, as Flores is alleging, these could seriously turn up the heat on owner Stephen Ross.

Flores also alleges that the Dolphins are declining to pay him severance, and they actually want him to repay some of the money he’s already received.

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Two more coaches join Brian Flores’ class action lawsuit

One former head coach and one former defensive coordinator are joining Brian Flores.

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Brian Flores’ class action lawsuit is once again in the news, as two new coaches have joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs, according to Pro Football Talk.

Former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton are both claiming racial discrimination in their own situations.

Wilks, who was fired by the Cardinals after one season, alleges that he was hired as a “bridge coach” and wasn’t given a real chance to succeed in this opportunity. He juxtaposed this situation with his general manager, Steve Keim, who was given an extension despite being convicted of a DUI.

“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,” Wilks said in a statement. “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.”

Horton, who had been the Titans defensive coordinator before interviewing for the head coach position in 2016, alleges that his interview was a sham only to satisfy the Rooney Rule. He also alleges that Mike Mularkey, who was given the job in 2016, knew that he was getting the position before all of the interviews had concluded.

“I am proud to stand with Coach Flores and Coach Wilks in combatting the systemic discrimination which has plagued the NFL for far too long,” Horton said in a statement. “When I learned from Coach Mularkey’s statements that my head coach interview with the Titans was a sham, I was devastated and humiliated. Bu joining this case, I am hoping to turn that experience into a positive and make lasting change and create true equal opportunity in the future.”

While all three coaches have been able to find positions in the league since these cited incidents occurred, it could be argued that none of the coaches were given the opportunity they should have been granted. Flores is a defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Wilks is the defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach of the Carolina Panthers and Horton hasn’t coached since 2019.

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Steve Wilks, Ray Horton join Brian Flores’ complaint regarding NFL’s systemic racism

Ray Horton and Steve Wilks, two Black coaches, have joined Brian Flores’ complaint, alleging systemic racism in the NFL.

On February 1, former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, claiming that he and several other potential Black head coaches have been denied opportunities to advance in the NFL because the league’s racist hiring practices and flagrant violations of the Rooney Rule.

The examples Flores alleged were individual bombshells on their own. Taken together, they painted a picture of an NFL that is even more widely racist than some would have accused it of being before this complaint was released.

“God has gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my personal goals,” Flores said in a statement. “In making the decision to file the class action complaint, I understand that I may be risking coaching the game I love, and has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come.”

Now, two other Black coaches have joined Flores’ complaint — Steve Wilks and Ray Horton.

Wilks is a longtime defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach who was fired after one season (2018) as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach. Wilks is currently the Defensive Passing Game Coordinator and secondary coach for the Carolina Panthers.

From ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg:

Lawyers say that Wilks was discriminated against as a “bridge coach” who was “not given any meaningful chance to succeed. Wilks was 3-13 in one season with Arizona before being fired and replaced by Kliff Kingsbury. Lawyers wrote that while Kingsbury has been successful, “Mr. Wilks, given the same opportunity afforded to Mr. Kingsbury, surely would have succeeded as well.”

Horton was an NFL defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator for multiple teams from 1994 through 2019. He had been up for head coaching opportunities throughout his career, but that never happened for him.

One reason it never happened, Horton alleges in Flores’ amended complaint, is that the Tennessee Titans gave him a show interview in 2016, when they eventually hired Mike Mularkey.

“I believe you have the truth and what you need,” Mularkey told ESPN, via email. “Prefer not to comment any further.”

“Our 2016 head coach search was an open and competitive process during which we conducted in-person interviews with four candidates and followed all NFL rules,” the Titans said in a statement. “The organization was undecided on its next head coach during the process and made its final decision after consideration of all four candidates following the completion of the interviews.”

Wilks released a statement in conjunction with Flores and Horton, explaining his participation.

The NFL released a statement when Flores originally filed his complaint, and the “without merit” part of that statement rubbed a lot of people the wrong way — because when you take even a casual glance at NFL history, systemic racism against players and coaches of color has indeed been systemic since the earliest days of the game.

And Roger Goodell’s claims of independent investigations into the matter were equally sketchy.

Roger Goodell insults everybody’s intelligence with “independent expert” response to Brian Flores’ lawsuit

The additions of Wilks and Horton to the complaint, especially if both men have legitimate cases, makes things quite a bit more complicated on the NFL’s side. The recent addition

At the 2022 league meetings in March, the NFL decreed that all 32 teams will hire a minority offensive assistant coach for the 2022 season, part of a series of policy enhancements announced Monday to address the league’s ongoing diversity efforts.

“Efforts” is doing a lot of work there, as the NFL has never taken a forward stance on the advancement of people of color until and unless it has been forced to do so.

Dolphins deny Brian Flores’ NDA claims, but Flores’ lawyers have screenshots

The Dolphins have denied every claim to this point.

The saga of Brian Flores vs. the NFL and the Miami Dolphins has continued early this week with the former Dolphins coach, who is now employed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, giving multiple interviews.

On both the I Am Athlete podcast and HBO’s “Real Sports,” Flores stated that he was asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement when he was fired. Flores said he refused to sign the NDA even though signing the agreement would guarantee the money he was owed over the final two seasons that were left on his contract.

The Dolphins fired back at this claim Tuesday night in a statement.

“This latest assertion by Brian Flores that Steve Ross mentioned an NDA to him is categorically false,” the team’s statement read. “This just did not happen and we simply cannot understand why Brian continues this pattern of making unfounded statements that he knows are untrue. We are fully cooperating with the NFL investigation and look forward to all of the facts coming out which we are confident will prove that his claims are false and defamatory.”

Flores’ representative, Doug Wigdor, responded on social media with screenshots from the agreement that the coach was asked to sign.

Technically, the Dolphins could say that they are distancing Ross from this and pinning knowledge of this on senior vice president Brandon Shore, whose signature is seen in the document. Ross’ name doesn’t appear in those images, so there is some wiggle room.

This battle continues to be Flores making claims and the team denying every part. Until this goes to court, we probably won’t know the truth.

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League source confirms Stephen Ross could be forced to sell if Brian Flores’ allegations are true

No other owner has been actually forced to sell.

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A couple of weeks after former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL and multiple organizations, it had seemed that the buzz had died down.

Flores has alleged that there is racial discrimination taking place in the league’s hiring practices that have resulted in sham interviews for many minority coaching candidates including himself. On top of that, Flores also stated that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for each loss in 2019.

Many originally believed that if these allegations specifically made against Ross were found to be true then he would be forced to sell his team. Now, according to Ian Rapoport, a league source has confirmed that to be the case.

“A league source confirmed that owners could, in fact, vote a fellow owner out under the most dire circumstances based on league rules, which would require a three-fourths vote,” Rapoport wrote in a story early Monday morning.

The NFL is currently investigating the claims made by Flores, as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has stated that any violations will not be tolerated by the league. Flores’ representatives have stated that they have witnesses and evidence that would corroborate the story.

No NFL owner has ever been forced to sell the team, however, former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson did sell his team amid allegations of inappropriate behavior that ranged from sexual misconduct to racism.

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4-Down Territory: NFL in courts and Congress, Super Bowl difference-makers, draft crushes

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling discuss the NFL’s misdeeds, Super Bowl hot-shots, and 2022 draft crushes.

Each week in “4-Down Territory, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire, take on the NFL’s (and occasionally the NCAA’s) most pressing topics. In this week’s episode, our fearless experts tackle the NFL’s current issues in both the courts and in Congress, which player (or group of players) will make the biggest difference in Super Bowl LVI, and which 2022 prospects have officially reached “draft crush” status for both Doug and Luke.

You can watch the video right here:

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Brian Flores’ lawyers release statement after Texans hire Lovie Smith

At least it wasn’t Josh McCown.

After Brian Flores filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL last week for racial discrimination in their hiring process, the Houston Texans were one of just a few teams without a head coach.

At the time, Flores was considered a finalist for the job along with former NFL quarterback Josh McCown, who had never coached in the league. However, late on Sunday, it was reported that Lovie Smith, the team’s defensive coordinator, was now being interviewed for the job.

Smith was hired for the job on Monday, and Flores was passed over. Following that news, Flores’ lawyers, Douglas H. Wigdor and John Elefterakis, put out a statement.

“Mr. Flores is happy to hear that the Texans have hired a Black head coach, Lovie Smith, as Mr. Flores’ goal in bringing his case is to provide real opportunities for Black and minority candidates to be considered for coaching and executive positions within the NFL,” they wrote. “However, we would be remiss not to mention that Mr. Flores was one of three finalists for the Texans’ head coach position and, after a great interview and mutual interest, it is obvious that the only reason Mr. Flores was not selected was his decision to stand up against racial inequality across the NFL.”

Smith isn’t a terrible head coach. He had a .506 winning percentage in his 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he made the postseason three times.

Unfortunately for Flores, this was the assumed risk that he acknowledged when filing the lawsuit. With all of the jobs now filled, he will have to either try and find a coordinator position or take the year off.

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Giants heavily deny Brian Flores’ allegations in lawsuit

“Our hiring process and, most certainly, our consideration of Mr. Flores was serious and genuine.”

Over the last few days, the fallout from former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ accusations against the league, the teams, and his former employer has been huge, but everyone involved has denied that anything nefarious had taken place.

Thursday night, the New York Giants, who Flores claims had him in for an interview despite having made up their mind to hire former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, released a lengthy statement addressing the allegations.

Specifically, the team detailed their own history of these events and took shots at Flores for going after the Giants because of a text he received from Bill Belichick.

Here’s the statement in full:

“Brian Flores has raised serious issues in the filing of his complaint. The specific claims against the Giants and Mr. Flores’ allegations about the legitimacy of his candidacy for our head coach position are disturbing and simply false.

After we interviewed six exceptional and diverse candidates, the decision on who we would hire as head coach was made on the evening of January 28, one day after Mr. Flores spent an entire day in our offices going through his second interview for the position, meeting with ownership and other staff members, and receiving a tour of our facility. (See the itinerary below). There is additional concrete and objective evidence to substantiate we did not make our decision until the evening of the 28th.

The allegation that the Giants’ decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false. And to base that allegation on a text exchange with Bill Belichick in which he ultimately states that he “thinks” Brian Daboll would get the job is irresponsible. The text exchange occurred the day before Coach Daboll’s in-person interview even took place. Giants’ ownership would never hire a head coach based only on a 20-minute zoom interview, which is all that Mr. Daboll had at that point.

In addition, Mr. Belichick does not speak for and has no affiliation with the Giants. Mr. Belichick’s text exchange provides no insight into what actually transpired during our head coaching search.

It has been well documented how much research and due diligence we did on Mr. Flores as it related to his candidacy. John Mara called Mr. Flores two days after he was dismissed in Miami. Mr. Mara expressed to Mr. Flores in that January 12 call that once we had our new general manager in place, we would begin the process of hiring our head coach and we wanted to meet with Mr. Flores because we considered him a serious candidate for the position. Mr. Mara and Mr. Flores then had their first formal conversation in a 25-30 minute zoom call on January 18 (at Mr. Flores’ request) to further discuss his candidacy.

In between those initial conversations and Mr. Flores’ in-person interview on January 27, there were several other communications between Mr. Flores and members of our organization. This included a dinner with our newly hired general manager, Joe Schoen, the night before Mr. Flores’s in-person interview. The consensus from within the Giants organization after this dinner remained that Mr. Flores was an outstanding candidate, and we looked forward to sitting down with him in person the next day.

Our hiring process and, most certainly, our consideration of Mr. Flores was serious and genuine. We are disappointed to learn that Mr. Flores was under the mistaken impression the job had already been awarded.

In his CBS interview yesterday, Mr. Flores was asked if “clubs have the right to hire the person they think is the best qualified for the job or the person they feel is right for them?” Mr. Flores responded “They do. That’s very reasonable to me . . .”. That is exactly what we did.

We hired Brian Daboll as our head coach at the conclusion of an open and thorough interview process. No decision was made, and no job offer was extended, until the evening of January 28, a full day after Mr. Flores’ in-person interview and day-long visit to the Giants.”

With all sides pointing fingers it’s tough to distinguish who is really telling the truth here, but we may know in the future depending on how far this lawsuit goes. The first pretrial hearing for the suit is set to take place on March 18.

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Dolphins owner Stephen Ross says he will comply with investigation

The Dolphins could be heavily penalized.

After originally replying that the allegations made in former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ lawsuit were “without merit” in their statement, the NFL is expected to investigate the claims regarding owner Stephen Ross offering Flores $100,000 per loss in the 2019 season.

Late Wednesday night, Ross issued a statement to media outlets regarding these issues.

“With regards to the allegations being made by Brian Flores, I am a man of honor and integrity and cannot let them stand without responding,” Ross said. “I take great personal exception to these malicious attacks, and the truth must be known. His allegations are false, malicious and defamatory. We understand there are media reports stating that the NFL intends to investigate his claims, and we will cooperate fully. I welcome that investigation and I am eager to defend my personal integrity, and the integrity and values of the entire Miami Dolphins organization, from these baseless, unfair and disparaging claims.”

This response comes after Flores stated on CNN that Ross’ alleged actions were damaging to the game of football.

“To attack the integrity of the game, that’s what I felt was happening in that instance, and I wouldn’t stand for it,” Flores said. “I think it hurt my standing within the organization and, ultimately was the reason why I was let go.”

Despite Ross’ denial, Flores’ legal team has stated that they have “corroborating evidence” and witnesses to back up these claims. If that is true, and Ross is found guilty of attempting to pay his coach to lose, there will be significant penalties against the Dolphins that could result in fines, loss of draft picks, and/or the owner potentially being forced out.

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