Two more former NFL coaches were added to the amended complaint on Thursday by the lawyers for Brian Flores, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
The lawsuit filed against the NFL, the Dolphins, and the Denver Broncos includes Steve Wilks, who was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals for one season in 2018). The suit was amended to include the Texans, the Cards and the TITANS.
The amended complaint alleges that the Texans retaliated against Flores by removing him from consideration for their head-coaching position, due to his decision to speak publicly about systemic discrimination in the NFL.
The amended lawsuit was filed in New York. Increased transparency in the hiring of football players, incentives for hiring Black coaches, and increased visibility for Black assistant coaches are some of the things it asks for.
Lawyers say that Wilks was not given a chance to succeed because he was abridge coach. After one season with Arizona, he was fired and replaced by Kliff Kingsbury. Lawyers wrote that Mr. Wilks would have succeeded if he had the same opportunity as Mr. Kingsbury.
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. White coaches and candidates should have the same ability to become employed and remain employed as black coaches and candidates. 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.
After spending one season as the University of Missouri's defensive coach, Steve Wilks returned to the NFL this year as pass game and secondary coach for the Carolina Panthers.
Horton was interviewed for the head coaching job of the team. Lawyers said the interview was a sham and that it was done only to comply with the Rooney Rule and to show a false willingness to consider a minority candidate for the position. He retired.
The owners of the team told Mularkey that he would get the job before interviewing two minority candidates.
Mularkey's comments, part of a wide-ranging interview with the Steelers Realm, were in response to a question about his regrets during his career. Since Flores filed his lawsuit in February, the allegations have taken on new relevance.
I pride myself on doing the right thing in this business, but I can't say that about everyone in this business, Mularkey said. When I was in Tennessee, I allowed myself to get caught up in something that I regret and still regret it. Amy Adams Strunk and her family came in and told me I was going to be the head coach in 2016 before the Rooney Rule went through. I knew I was the head coach when they went through this fake hiring process. Knowing a lot of the coaches they were interviewing, knowing how much they prepared to go through those interviews, and knowing that they had no chance of getting that job. Jon Robinson was in on the interview with me. He didn't know why he was interviewing me, I already had the job. I regret it. I apologize for that. It wasn't the way to go about it.
As part of reporting on the issues raised by the lawsuit, Mularkey was reached out to by ESPN before the amended lawsuit was filed. Mularkey was fired by theTitans after they lost to the New EnglandPatriots in the divisional round of the playoffs.
I believe you have the truth and what you need, according to Mularkey.
In a statement issued before the lawsuit was filed, the Titans disputed Mularkey's recollection of what happened during the interview process, but did not make Strunk or any other executives available for comment.
The organization made its final decision after conducting in-person interviews with four candidates during the 2016 head coach search.
Before the lawsuit was filed, Teryl Austin and Horton, two minority candidates who were finalist for the job, did not respond to repeated interview requests. Austin works on the same staff as Flores and is the defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After three seasons with the Dolphins, Flores was fired in January and hired by Mike Tomlin as a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach.
The league said it was not aware of Mularkey's comments prior to being asked about them.
Brian McCarthy, the vice president of communications for the NFL, said that they were not aware of the issue.
Horton said in a statement that he was proud to stand with Flores and Wilks in their fight against discrimination. By joining this case, I hope to turn that experience into a positive and lasting change that will create equal opportunity in the future.
According to the amended complaint, the Texans narrowed their candidates for head coach down to Flores, Jonathan Gannon and Josh McCown. After it was announced that Gannon was no longer in consideration, the decision was down to Flores or McCown, both of whom are white.
The Texans were concerned that if Mr. Flores was hired over Mr. McCown it would bolster his allegations of discrimination against Black candidates. On the same day that the Texans narrowed their search to only two candidates, the team decided to give an initial interview to its own defensive coach, Lovie Smith.
Smith was hired by the Texans for their head-coaching job. The complaint applauds the Texans for hiring Smith, who is more than qualified for the role, but says it is problematic that Flores was passed over because he filed his lawsuit.
According to the amended complaint, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 per loss in an attempt to strengthen the value of the Dolphins draft pick. It states that Flores sent a memo to the general manager, CEO, and senior vice president of football and business administration detailing the toxicity within the organization and explaining the unreasonable position he was being placed in.
Attorneys for Flores said that the league has a copy of the memo.
At its annual owners meeting last month, the NFL announced a new diversity advisory committee to review league and club policies on diverse hiring. The six-member committee will lend its expert, external perspective on industry best practices and will evaluate league and club diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and initiatives, including all hiring processes, policies and procedures, with a primary focus on senior-level coach and front office personnel positions.
Real and enduring change can only be accomplished through the appointment of a court ordered monitor as the NFL has demonstrated time and time again that it is incapable of policing itself.
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