MIAMI — Two months after filing the lawsuit that quaked the NFL, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has already won.

He might never actually “win” the suit alleging systemic racism in the league’s hiring practices. Ironically, the claim might be seen as weakening with every subsequent minority hire — including his own by the Pittsburgh Steelers as senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach.

But there is an echo of the suit, a victory in it with every such hire even if Flores never gets his day in court and the clear-cut verdict he wishes.

Flores’ biggest win was simply taking sports’ most important stand for racial equality since Colin Kaepernick knelt. For shining a spotlight, with all of its heat.

Of course the explosive subtext of his lawsuit were the damning allegations against Dolphins owner Stephen Ross currently under NFL investigation. One of them is lying. Both are doubling down. The outcome hovers big and malignant over an upcoming otherwise-promising Dolphins season.

The impact of what Flores dared do two months ago, symbolically on the first day of Black History Month, is worth exploring on both fronts.

The coach, fired by Miami despite an 8-1 finish to last season and the club’s first consecutive winning years since 2002-03, called to task America’s favorite sport over its historic paucity, especially of Black head coaches. There are presently three among the 32 teams: Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, who just lifted Flores from what some feared might be blackball-purgatory such as Kaepernick suffered; Lovie Smith, newly hired by Houston; and Todd Bowles, just promoted by the Bucs — the latter two seeming ripples from Flores’ cannonball suit.

There are only three other head coaches of color, and only two teams that are led by minority owners.

Flores’ legal action against the NFL singled out the Dolphins over his firing and also the New York Giants and Denver Broncos for alleged “sham” interviews of him to satisfy the league’s largely toothless Rooney Rule, designed to include minority candidates in teams’ head coach hiring process.

That Miami has a Black general manager, Chris Grier, is another reason winning the suit per se might be difficult. Another is that the man who replaced Flores, Mike McDaniel, has a Black father and identifies as multiracial. Interestingly, Miami was the only team to interview McDaniel. To note that Ross’ team hiring a multiracial coach helped his defense against the lawsuit might be cynical. It might also be accurate.

…continued

swipe to next page