Brian Flores said he walked into an interview with the Giants last week feeling “humiliation, disbelief and anger.” Prior to his meeting, he received text messages from his former boss and mentor, Bill Belichick, accidentally indicating that the Giants’ minds were already made up and that Flores would not receive the job.
Flores, speaking on CBS in the first televised interview he did in support of a lawsuit he filed on Feb. 1 against the NFL, the Giants, Broncos, Dolphins and “John Doe teams 1–29” alleging racist hiring practices, was called both “brave” and “bold” by host Gayle King. Regardless of how his suit turns out, King’s words were deliberate. Flores, admitting as much in the filing, knows he may never coach professionally again.
The reasons for this are twofold. First, Flores put a name, and some potentially troubling anecdotes, to a plight we’ve known has existed for decades. There is just one Black head coach (Mike Tomlin) in a league that is composed of more than 70% Black players. Behind the scenes, countless prospective head coaches of color have voiced their concerns about the legitimacy of the interview process, which requires that clubs interview at least two external candidates of color for their general manager, head coaching or coordinator vacancies.
