Two NFL coaches join Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit

Two NFL coaches joined former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ class-action racial discrimination lawsuit in opposition to the NFL and different groups Thursday.

Steve Wilks is a longtime coach and was the top coach of the Arizona Cardinals for the 2018 season earlier than he was let go and changed by Kliff Kingsbury. Wilks alleged in a criticism obtained by Fox Information Digital he was handled as a “bridge coach” and didn’t get sufficient of a chance to succeed.

“When Coach Flores filed this motion, I knew I owed it to myself and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches to face with him,” Wilks stated in a press release. “This lawsuit has shed additional essential gentle on an issue that everyone knows exists, however that too few are keen to confront.  Black coaches and candidates ought to have precisely the identical capability to grow to be employed and stay employed as White coaches and candidates. That’s not at the moment the case, and I sit up for working with coach Flores and coach Horton to make sure that the aspiration of racial equality within the NFL turns into a actuality.”

Ray Horton is one other longtime coach who joined the go well with. He alleged he was part of a “sham” interview course of when he interviewed for the Tennessee Titans head teaching job in 2016. Horton says within the lawsuit the Titans solely performed the interview with him to satisfy the Rooney Rule requirement. 

The job was finally given to Mike Mularkey. The criticism cited feedback Mularkey made concerning the interview course of in 2020.

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“[T]outdated me I used to be going to be the top coach in 2016, earlier than they went via the Rooney Rule,” Mularkey informed the Steelers Realm Podcast. “And so I sat there realizing I used to be the top coach in 2016, as they went via this faux hiring course of realizing, realizing quite a lot of the coaches that they have been interviewing, realizing how a lot they ready to undergo these interviews, realizing that the whole lot they might do and so they had no likelihood to get that job.”

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Ray Horton talks to reporters after follow on the workforce’s facility in Berea, Ohio, Dec. 19, 2013.
(AP Picture/Mark Duncan)

“I’m proud to face with coach Flores and coach Wilks in combating the systemic discrimination which has plagued the NFL for much too lengthy,” Horton stated in a press release. “After I discovered from coach Mularkey’s statements that my head coach interview with the Titans was a sham, I used to be devastated and humiliated. By becoming a member of this case, I hope to show that have right into a optimistic and make lasting change and create true equal alternative sooner or later.”

Wilks and Horton are Black. Mularkey is White. 

Wilks has been within the NFL for the reason that 2006 season when he broke into the league as a defensive backs coach with the Chicago Bears and has been with 4 different groups since. He at the moment serves because the defensive passing sport coordinator and secondary coach for the Carolina Panthers.

Horton, a former NFL participant, has coached within the NFL since 1994. He was lately a defensive backs coach for Washington in 2019. He was the Titans’ defensive coordinator from 2014 to 2015.

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores talks to the media earlier than follow at Baptist Well being Coaching Advanced at Exhausting Rock Stadium Oct. 20, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla.
(David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs)

The Cardinals defended their choice to let Wilks go in a press release to Fox Information Digital.

“The selections we made after the 2018 season have been very tough ones. However as we stated on the time, they have been totally pushed by what was in one of the best pursuits of our group and obligatory for workforce enchancment. We’re assured that the details mirror that and show that these allegations are unfaithful,” the assertion learn.

Titans didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.

Flores first accused the NFL, the Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos of racial discrimination in his preliminary lawsuit in February. The league and people groups have all denied the accusations. The previous coach applauded Wilks and Horton for becoming a member of him.