'Humiliation. Disbelief. Anger.' Brian Flores describes emotions after seeing texts from Belichick

Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who filed suit on Tuesday against the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos and the NFL for its poor hiring practices of Black head coaches and charged that Miami owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 for every loss in 2019 so the team could improve its draft position the following year, said Wednesday he believes the league is at an important crossroads.

"We’re at a fork in the road right now," Flores said on "CBS Mornings" in his first interview since filing the suit. "We’re either gonna keep it the way it is, or we’re gonna go in another direction and actually make some real change."

Flores has accused the Giants of selecting Brian Daboll as their head coach even before Flores was interviewed last week, and said he has gone through several "sham" head coaching interviews, including with the Giants and Broncos. Flores said he received a text from Patriots coach Bill Belichick on Jan. 24, three days before his scheduled interview with the Giants, that indicated Belichick knew Daboll would get the job. Belichick had inadvertently texted Flores when he meant to text Daboll offering his congratulations.

"It was a range of emotions," Flores said of his reaction to the text. "Humiliation, disbelief, anger. I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am in football to become a head coach, put in 18 years in this league, and to go on what was a sham interview, I was hurt."

Flores interviewed with the Giants on Thursday, and hours after the team interviewed Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on Friday, the team announced Daboll had won the job.

Flores also has interviewed with the Texans and Saints and remains a candidate in both teams’ search for a new head coach. Flores said on ESPN’s "Get Up" on Wednesday that he told both teams about his plan to file the lawsuit.

"I’m hopeful that I will," Flores said when asked if he thinks he’ll coach again in the NFL. "I’m very hopeful. But I understand the risks of filing a lawsuit like this. It’s something I’m passionate about. But if change comes and I never coach again, it’ll be worth it."

Complaint: Brian Flores vs. NFL, Giants, Dolphins, Broncos and "John Doe" teams

Flores accused Ross in the lawsuit of offering the money to lose games in 2019. Flores said he refused because he believed it went to the very heart of the issue of integrity. Flores said Ross wanted to lose as many games as possible to secure the No. 1 overall draft pick, which went to the Bengals. They selected LSU’s Joe Burrow, who has led the team to next week’s Super Bowl.

"This game changed my life," Flores said. "So to attack the integrity of the game, that is what I felt was happening in that instance. And I would not stand for it."

Flores said he believes his refusal set the stage for his eventual ouster, which came after this season when he led Miami to its second straight winning season.

Former Browns coach Hue Jackson said on Twitter that he, too, was offered money by the team to lose games when he was the coach. Jackson was hired in 2016 and, after a winless season in 2017, was fired midway through the 2018 season. (He was 3-36-1 overall in Cleveland.) Jackson said on Twitter on Tuesday night that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam "was happy while we kept losing." He added, in reference to Flores’ charge that Ross offered money for losses, that he can "back up every word." Kimberly Diemert, executive director of the Hue Jackson Foundation, said on Twitter she has records "that will help [Flores’] case" and that Browns executives were paid bonuses for losses while Jackson was the coach.

: The Browns have categorically denied Jackson’s claim.

The Dolphins also have denied Flores’ charge, and the Giants refuted his claim that Daboll was the presumptive winner of the job, saying that Flores was in the mix "until the 11th hour." The NFL has also denied Flores’ allegations, saying his case "has no merit."

Flores suggested the NFL’s Rooney Rule, created in 2003 to improve the league’s diversity hiring record by requiring teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and later executive positions and coordinator jobs, is an ineffective way to improve hiring practices.

"The Rooney Rule is intended to give minorities an opportunity to sit down in front of ownership," Flores said. "But I think what it's turned into is an instance where guys are just checking a box. And that's been the case. I've been on some interviews in the past where I've had that feeling, there's always no way to know for sure, and I know I'm not alone in that."

Despite 70% of NFL rosters being comprised of Black players, there is currently only one Black head coach, Mike Tomlin of the Steelers.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”