The Steelers reported Saturday that Flores was named the team’s senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach on the staff of head coach Mike Tomlin.
Flores will represent considerable authority in working with Pittsburgh’s linebackers, a gathering that incorporates NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt.
However, the hiring comes under three weeks after Flores, who is black, sued the NFL and three teams over alleged Racial Discrimination recruiting practices following his dismissal by Miami.
Flores drove the Dolphins to continuous winning seasons before he was terminated in January.
However, he has returned to coaching in the league.
“I am boosted up for Brian Flores connection our training staff given his set of experiences of making and screening restrained players through his time in the NFL,” Tomlin stated. “Brian’s Personal Resume signifies that he has no problem, and I expect him to add his skills to support our team.”
Flores’ attorneys, John Elefterakis and Douglas Wigdor, in a statement, stated: “We welcome Coach Flores to his new post with the Steelers and express gratefulness to Trainer Tomlin and the association for offering him this incredible chance. While Coach Flores is currently centred around his new position, he will go on with his race discrimination class action to make real change in the NFL.” Attorneys John Elefterakis and Douglas Wigdor stated in a statement on Saturday.
Tomlin is one of two Black head coaches in an association where almost 70% of the players are Black. The added is Lovie Smith of the Houston Texans. Mike McDaniel, who is multiracial, replaced Flores as head coach of the Dolphins after Flores was terminated last month after going 24-25 in his three seasons.
Here is a Cause of the Event Referring Racial Discrimination
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores recorded a legal claim on Feb. 1 against the NFL and all of the 32 teams, charging Racial Discrimination in recruiting processes across the association. In the suit, Flores explicitly named the Dolphins, the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos and referred to instant messages among himself and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
In the suit, Flores claims that instant messages sent to him by Bill Belichick, while the Patriots head coach mistakenly accepted he was informing Brian Daboll, show that Daboll had effectively gotten the Giants’ head-coaching position, three days before Flores interviewed for the position. Flores fights that his meeting with the Giants – alongside a meeting he had in 2019 with the Broncos – was a farce.
The NFL put out an announcement saying the cases “are without merit.” The Giants said in a proclamation they are “satisfied and certain” with how their recruiting interaction went. The Patriots declined to comment on the circumstance.
The suit likewise claims that Dolphins proprietor Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 for all of the team’s losses in 2019, to advance Miami’s draft position in 2020. It additionally claims that Ross asked Flores to mess with a noticeable quarterback and, after Flores wouldn’t do as such, set up an impromptu meeting between Flores and the quarterback.
Flores, who interviewed for the Saints’, Bears’ and Texans’ head-coaching position, said in an explanation, “I comprehend that I might be taking a chance with coaching the game that I love and has accomplished such a great deal for my family and me. My earnest expectation is that by remaining against the fundamental prejudice in the NFL, others will go along with me to guarantee positive change long into the future.”
The NFL has kept up with the claim is “without merit,” even though chief Roger Goodell said before the Super Bowl that “all the charges, regardless of whether they depended on prejudice or separation or the trustworthiness of our game, those to me were extremely upsetting.”
The lawsuit has likewise started the association to survey the “Rooney Rule,” a strategy named after previous Steelers proprietor Dan Rooney. Presented in 2003, the approach has extended to require NFL teams to talk with numerous minority contenders for high-profile job openings, including head coaches and head supervisors.
Current Steelers president Art Rooney II recognized recently the association has “not seen improvement in the positions of head coaches,” although he brought up steps in the recruiting of women and minorities in different positions of authority.
Flores’ claim explicitly names Austin to act as an illustration of a coach impacted by prejudice in recruiting. Austin, who is Black, told The Associated Press he is 0 for 11 while meeting for the head coaching position during his almost 20 years in the NFL.
Presently Flores will work under Austin as they try to assist Pittsburgh’s guard with skipping back from a below-average 2022. The Steelers made the end of the season games at 9-7-1 yet completed twentieth in points permitted and 24th in yards permitted, the unit’s most obviously terrible season in over 30 years.
