On Thursday, former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton joined the Brian Flores class-action lawsuit against multiple teams that alleges racial discrimination in their hiring practices.
Horton accused the Titans of conducting a “completely sham interview” with him for their head coach vacancy in 2016 “only to comply with the Rooney Rule and to demonstrate an appearance of equal opportunity and a false willingness to consider a minority candidate for the position.”
The Titans have since issued a statement in response to the accusation:
“Our 2016 head coach search was a thoughtful and competitive process fully in keeping with NFL guidelines and our own organizational values. We conducted detailed, in-person interviews with four talented individuals, two of whom were diverse candidates. No decision was made, and no decision was communicated, prior to the completion of all interviews. While we are proud of Our Commitment to Diversity, we are dedicated to continued growth as an organization to foster diversity and inclusion in our workplace and community.”
The Titans’ claim that they did not make a decision prior to the conclusion of their interview process is directly at odds with a past quote from the man they ultimately hired for the job in 2016, Mike Mularkey.
In 2020, Mularkey stated on the Steelers Realm podcast that he was notified he would be the head coach before the Titans “went through the Rooney rule,” a quote that was cited in the lawsuit.
“Told me I was going to be the head coach in 2016, before they went through the Rooney rule. And so I sat there knowing I was the head coach in 2016, as they went through this fake hiring process knowing, knowing a lot of the coaches that they were interviewing, knowing how much they prepared to go through those interviews, knowing that everything they could do and they had no chance to get that job.”
Along with Horton, former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks also joined the lawsuit.
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