Two former NFL coaches joined Brian Flores in his lawsuit against the NFL on Tuesday, accusing several teams of racist practices in their hiring process.
According to ESPN, Steve Wilks, who served as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach for one season in 2018, as well as Ray Horton, who held various assistant positions in addition to being interviewed for the job of head coach of the Tennessee Titans in 2016, are now part of the complaint filed by the man who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins for three seasons and who joined the Pittsburgh Steelers as an assistant in February.
In addition to Homer Goodell, the Dolphins, Titans, Cardinals, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, Houston Texans and 26 unidentified individuals within an organization are targeted by the racism allegations.
“When Coach Flores made this complaint, I knew I had to stand up for him, for me, and for all black coaches and those who aspire to become instructors,” Wilks said in a statement. This lawsuit sheds even more light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few of us want to confront. Black coaching candidates should have the same opportunity as white coaches to be hired and remain. This is currently not the case and I look forward to working alongside Coach Flores and Coach Horton to make our aspirations for racial equality a reality.”
Since Flores filed his lawsuit against the NFL and some of its teams, several stories of discrimination have come to light. He himself believes that he was involved in a fake interview with the sole purpose of respecting the Rooney rule. The latter, introduced in 2003 in the NFL, requires that each team seeking to fill the role of head coach, coordinator and general manager interview at least one candidate from a visible minority. Flores also mentioned that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss during the 2019 campaign.
With the hiring of Lovie Smith by the Houston Texans in February, the NFL has five visible minority head coaches, including two black men.
