Brian Flores , former Miami Dolphins Coach, is back in the National Football League as the Senior Defensive Assistant and Linebackers Coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After Flores filed a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination, he returned to the NFL.
“I am excited about Brian Flores joining our coaching staff given his history of developing and teaching defensive players during his time in the NFL,” Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin said in a statement Saturday.
Tomlin, who is also the only Black head coach, said that Brian’s resume speaks for himself and that he looks forward to contributing his expertise to our team.
Douglas H. Wigdor was Flores’ lawyer and released a statement stating, “We congratulated Coach Flores for his new position with Steelers and thank Coach Tomlin for this great opportunity.”
Wigdor stated that Coach Flores now focuses on his new position. However, he will continue his class action against race discrimination so that the NFL can make real changes.
Flores is a Black man with Honduran heritage. He has more than 14 years experience as a coach in the NFL. Most recently, he was the Miami Dolphins’ head coach between 2019-2021. The Steelers stated that he also served in a personnel position for the New England Patriots between 2004 and 2007.
Flores was a linebacker at Boston College from 1999 to 2002 before joining the Patriots.
He led the Dolphins to a record of 24-25 and led them to back-toback wins for the first-time in almost 20 years.
Despite their victories, Flores was fired by the Miami Dolphins last month. This shock many as Miami had not posted consecutive above-average records in the seven winning seasons under Jimmy Johnson or Dave Wannstedt between 1997 and 2003.
Flores was a top-ranked coaching prospect in the league after the unexpected termination and was offered an interview with the Giants.
Flores claimed that he was forced into a fake interview with the Giants and added that he has a text message from Bill Belichick that proves it.
“Sorry … “Sorry… They are calling Brian Daboll. Sorry about that. According to the lawsuit, BB” Belichick sent Flores a message.
After interviewing Flores, the Giants hired Daboll.
Flores’ claims were denied by the NFL and they said that they would fight the suit.
The league released a statement saying that the NFL and its clubs were deeply committed to equitable employment practices. They also continued to make progress in providing equal opportunities across their organizations.
It stated that diversity is central to all we do and that there are very few issues where our clubs or our internal leadership team spend more of their time. These claims are not meritless and we will defend them.”
The Giants also stated that Flores was interviewed in good faith by them and almost hired him.
In the hopes of bringing about long-term change in diversity within the NFL’s coaching ranks, the pending lawsuit will proceed as planned.
