Brian Flores Opens up About 'Sham' NFL Interview

Courtesy Photo

Black History Month started out with a bang for sports fans Tuesday when former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores sued the NFL, the New York Giants, the Dolphins and Denver Broncos for racial discrimination.

Now he is opening up about his dispute with the league and some of the incendiary charges leveled in his bombshell lawsuit.

Asked how it made him feel knowing that he was walking into an interview where a decision might have already been made during an appearance on “CBS Mornings” Wednesday, Flores said, “It was a range of emotions. Humiliation. Disbelief. Anger. I worked so hard to get where I am in football to become a head coach. To go in on what was a sham interview, I was hurt.”

Former #Dolphins HC Brian Flores on @CBSMornings describing his interactions and feelings before his interview with the #Giants for the head coach job. pic.twitter.com/1RnVxn0VUK

— IG: JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) February 2, 2022

Flores walked into the interview with an idea that it was just a cursory attempt to respect the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior operation positions, thanks to a damning text exchange with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick that was the catalyst for the lawsuit that states that the league "remains rife with racism" and that "in certain critical ways, the NFL is racially segregated and is managed much like a plantation."

Belichick accidentally texted him to congratulate him on the NY Giants job thinking he was Brian Daboll. The lawsuit presents text messages of Belichick sending congratulations to Flores for landing the Giants job on Jan. 24. That text was sent two days prior to Flores interviewing for the job.

After Flores initially appeared confused by the text message, he asked Belichick, “Coach, are you talking to Brian Flores or Brian Daboll. Just making sure.”

Belichick replied: “Sorry – I f—ed this up. I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that. BB”

According to the lawsuit, Flores was then "forced to sit through a dinner with Joe Schoen, the Giant’s [sic] new General Manager, knowing that the Giants had already selected Mr. Daboll. Much worse, on Thursday, January 27, 2022, Mr. Flores had to give an extensive interview for a job that he already knew he would not get — an interview that was held for no reason other than for the Giants to demonstrate falsely to the League Commissioner Roger Goodell and the public at large that it was in compliance with the Rooney Rule.”

Daboll was hired as the Giants head coach on Jan. 28.

The Giants responded on Tuesday after being named in the lawsuit.

“We are pleased and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll,” the team said in a statement. “We interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates. The fact of the matter is, Brain Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. Ultimately, we hired the individual we felt was most qualified to be our next head coach."

Read the entire lawsuit here.