Brian Flores sues the Giants and NFL, alleging racist hiring

Brian Flores filed a class-action suit against the Giants and the NFL in United States District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday. Citing texts from Bill Belichick indicating he was not going to be hired by the Giants and claiming that his interview to become head coach of the team after he received that information was a "sham," Flores said the interview served only to placate the league’s Rooney Rule requiring minority candidates to receive consideration.

Flores also is suing the Broncos and Dolphins.

"God has gifted me with a special talent to coach the game of football, but the need for change is bigger than my personal goals," Flores said in a statement through his lawyers attached to the lawsuit. "In making the decision to file the class action complaint today, I understand that I may be risking coaching the game that I love and that has done so much for my family and me. My sincere hope is that by standing up against systemic racism in the NFL, others will join me to ensure that positive change is made for generations to come."

The Giants hired Brian Daboll as their head coach on Friday and introduced him in a news conference on Monday. Daboll was one of five candidates who received in-person interviews from the Giants along with Flores, Dan Qunn, Patrick Graham and Leslie Frazier. The Rooney Rule requires an in-person interview with at least one external minority candidate before a team can hire a head coach or general manager. Flores as well as Frazier satisfied that provision.

"We are pleased and confident with the process that resulted in the hiring of Brian Daboll," the Giants said in a statement. "We interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates. The fact of the matter is, Brian Flores was in the conversation to be our head coach until the eleventh hour. Ultimately, we hired the individual we felt was most qualified to be our next head coach."

The Belichick texts, included in the suit, were sent on Jan. 24 – the day before Daboll’s in-person interview with the Giants and three days before Flores’ – and appear to have been intended for Daboll. Both Daboll and Flores are former assistants to Belichick in New England.

"I hear from Buffalo and NYG that you are their guy," Belichick texted Flores. Flores replied with excitement then asked for clarification that Belichick was texting the correct Brian. "Sorry," Belichick writes, noting his error. "I double checked & I misread the text. I think they are naming Daboll. I’m sorry about that."

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

"This revelation not only impugns and viciously exposes the sham process to which Mr. Flores was subjected but also stands to indict the Giants’ organizational hiring practices in general," the suit claims. "It is impossible to put into words the emotions Mr. Flores felt upon learning that not only would he not be getting the Giants Head Coach job—the job of his dreams—but, more importantly, that he was not even being given serious consideration for the position but being treated as a box to ‘check off’ due to his race."

The suit adds that Flores spent three days, including a dinner with Giants general manager Joe Schoen on Wednesday evening and the formal interview on Thursday, "knowing that he was walking into [the] interview with no chance to become the Giants Head Coach. While he would spend countless hours preparing to put his best step forward, the white men across the table from him saw and heard only one thing: a formality that had to be observed in order to name Mr. Daboll the Head Coach."

There is no direct proof from the Giants that they had made up their mind at that time; Belichick has a history as a successful assistant coach with the Giants but has not worked for the team since 1990.

Co-owner John Mara was asked about Flores’ candidacy on Monday after Daboll was introduced.

"Listen, we had [six] terrific candidates any one of whom I probably would have been comfortable with at the end of the day," he said. "I think what Brian [Daboll] has been able to accomplish up in Buffalo and Brian’s track record with [general manager] Joe [Schoen] and their level of comfort with one another, I think that’s what tipped the scales at the end of the day."

Daboll was long considered a favorite for the job because of his relationship with Schoen (they worked together for four years in Buffalo before Schoen was hired by the Giants earlier in the month) and his development of quarterback Josh Allen. In fact, the suit cites texts to Flores from the Giants suggesting that Flores is a favorite candidate of ownership and that Daboll might be available to serve as an offensive coordinator for the Giants if Flores were hired as head coach.

In naming the Broncos in the suit, Flores claims that in 2017 he interviewed for Denver's head coaching job when then-general manager John Elway, CEO Joe Ellis, and others, showed up an hour late "and it was obvious that they had [been] drinking heavily the night before." The Broncos hired Vic Fangio for that job. Regarding the Dolphins, Flores was hired as Miami's head coach in 2019 and claims that owner Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100,000 extra for each game he lost that first season in order to improve the team’s draft position, attempted to force him to tamper with another team’s unnamed quarterback the following offseason, and was ultimately fired for "poor collaboration."

Among the solutions sought by Flores in the suit are NFL initiatives to "increase the influence of Black individuals in hiring and termination decisions" for general managers and coaches; permitting select Black players and coaches to participate in the interviewing process for those jobs; and requiring NFL teams to provide written rationale for their hiring and termination decisions as well as side-by-side comparisons of "objective criteria." It also asks that a training program be created and funded for Black coaches and that the hiring of Black general managers and head coaches be "incentivized" through the means of monetary enticements, draft picks or salary cap space.

"In certain critical ways, the NFL is racially segregated and is managed much like a plantation," the suit reads. "Its 32 owners—none of whom are Black—profit substantially from the labor of NFL players, 70% of whom are Black. The owners watch the games from atop NFL stadiums in their luxury boxes, while their majority-Black workforce put their bodies on the line every Sunday, taking vicious hits and suffering debilitating injuries to their bodies and their brains while the NFL and its owners reap billions of dollars."

The NFL responded to the suit with the following statement: "The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time. We will defend against these claims, which are without merit."

The Broncos and Dolphins issued similar statements denying the allegations.

The Steelers' Mike Tomlin is the only Black head coach currently in the NFL and there are six Black general managers.

"Rules have been implemented, promises made—but nothing has changed," the suit reads. "In fact, the racial discrimination has only been made worse by the NFL’s disingenuous commitment to social equity… Mr. Flores has determined that the only way to effectuate real change is through the Courts, where the NFL’s conduct can be judged by a jury of Mr. Flores’ peers. A judgment that is long overdue."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.