Friday, March 29, 2024

Two Black Coaches Join Brian Flores’ Class Action Lawsuit Against NFL

Brian Flores - GettyImages
Brian Flores – GettyImages

*Two Black NFL coaches have joined the class-action racial discrimination lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores against the NFL and other teams. 

Steve Wilks and Ray Horton were added to the amended lawsuit on Thursday, ESPN reports. 

Wilks was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for one season before he was fired in 2018 and replaced by Kliff Kingsbury. He alleges in a complaint that the NFL didn’t give him the opportunity to succeed.

“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.”

READ MORE: Brian Flores Sues NFL, Giants, Dolphins Over ‘Racism in Hiring’

Horton, a defensive coordinator for the Titans in 2014-15, said he participated in a sham interview with the team in 2016 for the head coaching job that had already been given to Mike Mularkey. Horton alleges the Titans only conducted the interview with him to fulfill the Rooney Rule requirement. 

Mularkey confirmed as much in a 2020 podcast interview that has resurfaced amid Horton’s legal complaint. 

“[T]old me I was going to be the head coach in 2016, before they went through the Rooney Rule,” Mularkey told the Steelers Realm Podcast. “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.”

As previously reported, Flores is taking legal action against the NFL, the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos, and the Dolphins, claiming their hiring practices are rooted in racism.

Flores, who is Black, was fired as head coach of Miami in January. Per TMZ, he says he interviewed with Denver execs and then-Broncos general manager John Elway in 2019 … however, “it was clear from the substance of the interview that Mr. Flores was interviewed only because of the Rooney Rule.”

Per ESPN, in the amended complaint, Flores’ attorneys allege that the NFL retaliated against him as he was not considered for a head coach position with the Houston Texans due to his lawsuit. The amended complaint also details Flores’ previous allegations that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss during the 2019 season. 

“I am proud to stand with coach Flores and coach Wilks in combating 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. By 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.”

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