By: Mike Rifkin
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the NFL, New York Giants, Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins accusing them of sham interviews, incentivizing losing and pressure to improperly recruit players. Flores was fired after three seasons as Dolphins head coach posting a record of 24-25 and had a winning record the last two seasons.
As of this writing there is only ONE African American head coach in the NFL and that is Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Sreelers. This past season there were three with David Culley who coached the Texans joining Tomlin and Flores. Culley was fired after one season even though most people were impressed with the fact he won 4 games with a roster that isn’t very talented. One of the worst kept secrets in the NFL was that Culley was going to be a one and done coach, but who knows if the 66 year old gets another opportunity to be a head coach. Flores is currently a finalist to replace Culley but hasn’t been hired yet. The prime example of somebody not getting a second chance is former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell. Caldwell coached the Colts for three seasons and even went to a Super Bowl. He also coached the Lions for four seasons and had ONE losing season and went to the playoffs twice. Caldwell had a winning record with the Lions. Caldwell did interview for the Jaguars and Bears head coaching vacancies, but ultimately did not get either. Chiefs Offensive Coordinator Eric Bienemy has interviewed for jobs the past couple of seasons and has yet to be hired. The NFL has the Rooney Rule which requires teams to interview minorities for a coaching or front office position. Teams have used this rule to their advantage just to eventually get the guy they want. The NFL needs to change the Rooney Rule somehow. Now the other thing is I wish teams were transparent on why a certain guy was fired or why they didn’t hire someone. There are three prominent people who I would like to speak up on the issue of the lack of African American head coaches and they are Mike Tomlin, Tony Dungy and Marvin Lewis. Dungy was the first African American head coach to win a Super Bowl, and Marvin Lewis was the Bengals coach for 16 seasons and led them to seven playoff appearances, but those two voices along with Tomlin should speak up on this issue.
The other part of the lawsuit I want to talk about is Flores says in 2019 that Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross offered him 100,000$ to lose games intentionally for a better draft pick. If this is true Ross has to sell the team immediately. Why would a guy getting his first opportunity want to throw games knowing in all likelihood he could get fired for it and if it came out he would never get a second chance. To intentionally tank is something else the NFL and all major sports need to take a look at. But to ask a first time coach to tank is wrong, knowing if it came out he wouldn’t get a second chance.
At the end of the day the NFL is a multi billion dollar industry, but it needs to get with the times. Stop protecting people like Stephen Ross and Daniel Snyder and say they are bad for the game. In 2022 there shouldn’t be one African American head coach, the NFL has to figure out a way to make the hiring process more fair.
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