Despite using Bill Belichick’s texts as evidence in his lawsuit against the NFL, Brian Flores said he’s “not mad” at the Patriots coach about the blunder.
The former Miami coach who is suing the NFL as well as the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos over racial discrimination in hiring practices said on the “I Am Athlete” podcast that he doesn’t blame Belichick for how the situation unfolded with his New York interview.
“I’m not mad. He sent a text message to the wrong person. I’m certainly guilty of that,” Flores said. “To me, I thought it was specific to the lawsuit in that it confirmed a lot of things that I thought were going on that I think a lot of Black and minority coaches think are going on. It confirmed it for me as far as having a fair and equal opportunity to go in and interview and show your acumen, show your intelligence and show your ability to lead. Oftentimes, it’s not a fair and equal playing field.”
Brian Flores on if he feels he damaged his relationship with Bill Belichick by including his text messages in the lawsuit:
— The Game Day NFL (@TheGameDayNFL) February 21, 2022
(🎥: @IAMATHLETEpod) pic.twitter.com/O7K39Jl8Pa
Flores was referencing the text messages that Belichick, Flores’ former boss when he coached in New England from 2008 to 2018, sent him prior to his interview for the Giants’ head coaching vacancy. The messages congratulated him for getting the job — which he had yet to interview for — before Belichick later apologized, clarifying that he meant to send the texts to then-Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was later named the Giants’ new head coach.
Texts from Bill Belichick to Brian Flores, congratulating Brian for landing the #Giants job.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 1, 2022
Belichick thought he was texting Brian Daboll. He was texting Flores by mistake. pic.twitter.com/Y686XcjYC3
Flores is using the text messages as evidence in his lawsuit that alleges the Giants had already decided to hire Daboll before bringing Flores in for an interview to comply with the Rooney Rule for minority candidates. Flores, who is Black and Hispanic, said after he filed the lawsuit that he believes the interview with the Giants was a “sham.”
Flores, who was recently hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a defensive assistant, went on during the podcast interview to compliment the six-time Super Bowl champion coach.
“I think the one thing people don’t know about Bill is he listens,” Flores said. “So if you have — and again, you’ve got to earn the right for him to listen — but if you have an idea, if you have a thought, if you have a person or there’s a matchup you think that we can win, a part in the game, he’ll listen. He may add something to it. He may throw it out. But he listens. I think that’s one of his greatest strengths.”
Also on the podcast, Flores alleged he was given tasks that he doesn’t think would have been required of a White head coach. He did not specify what the Dolphins asked of him that he considered racially based.
“I think race played a role in my firing,” Flores said on the podcast. “What I mean by that is, there were things I was asked to do. There were conversations that were had. I was made out to be a difficult person to work with. I think my white counterparts wouldn’t have been asked to do the things I was asked to do.”
Flores has said, that despite the new job with the Steelers, he has no plans to drop the lawsuit.
This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Jacob Calvin Meyer can be reached at jmeyer@washingtontimes.com.
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