The Super Bowl is over and the NFL Combine is a few weeks away, but the Pittsburgh Steelers put the NFL back in the news Saturday afternoon when they hired former Miami Dolphins head coach, Brian Flores, as their senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach.
When announced, Twitter ignited like the Dwarven furnaces in Moria and the reactions came swiftly.
Most celebrated the fact that Flores was employed again after his shocking and wrongful termination by the Dolphins in January. Others echoed the sentiment and gave the Steelers props for bringing Flores on board.
Until Lovie Smith’s recent hiring, Mike Tomlin started the year as the NFL’s sole Black head coach. He’s also the longest-tenured and winningest Black head coach in the league.
Fans also pointed to the Rooney Rule, which was crafted by late Steelers’ owner, Dan Rooney, and implemented in 2003 to improve minority hiring in the NFL.
Tomlin, like these fans, celebrated Flores’ signing.
“I am excited about Brian Flores joining our coaching staff given his history of developing and teaching defensive players during his time in the NFL,” said Tomlin. “Brian’s resume speaks for itself, and I look forward to him adding his expertise to help our team.”
Flores’ resume does speak for itself, and it says he’s more than qualified to be a head coach.
That, coupled with the NFL’s history with race and their recent move of hiring former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to defend them against Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit, is why others are hesitating to embrace a full celebration.
Their reluctance is understandable, especially if you understand the NFL’s history, politics and strategies when dealing with race.
It took decades before Black quarterbacks were comfortably accepted by NFL executives, fans and owners. Some still quietly harbor an aversion to drafting and/or signing Black QBs to lead their teams.
For every Russell Wilson, there are dozens of Marlin Briscoes who were forced out of their position because they weren’t viewed as prototypical NFL quarterbacks.
This played out as recently as 2018 when former Colts GM Bill Polian said Lamar Jackson should switch to wide receiver. To his credit, Polian apologized (a year later), but it proved this outdated thinking still existed.
As the view of the Black quarterback gradually changed, the barrier to entry facing Black head coaches remained.
At one time, progress appeared to be happening.
Lovie Smith faced off against Tony Dungy in Super Bowl XLI in 2007.
Four years later in 2011, the NFL had 10 Black head coaches including the Bears’ Lovie Smith, the Bengals’ Marvin Lewis, the Colts’ Jim Caldwell, Jacksonville’s Mel Tucker, the Chiefs’ Romeo Crennell, the Dolphins Todd Bowles, Minnesota’s Leslie Frazier, Oakland’s Hue Jackson, Mike Tomlin, and Tampa Bay’s Raheem Morris.
Sadly, over the next few years, those numbers dwindled and alarms sounded.
But in 2016, Colin Kaepernick and his peaceful protest against police brutality and social injustice arrived, and the dearth of Black coaches took a backseat to the hammering the NFL took from a divided fanbase and country.
Despite the fact that he was better than the horrible backup QBs outraged owners signed, Kaepernick was poisonous to teams and the NFL. Ultimately, the NFL blackballed him out of the league.
All the while, the league took notes and learned like WOPR in the movie “War Games” in case racial politics surfaced again.
And it most certainly did in 2021.
That year, the NFL had seven head coaching vacancies. Only one team, the Texans, hired a Black head coach, David Culley, who did an admirable job cleaning up the mess left by Bill O’Brien and keeping the Texans out of the negative news headlines.
But then Culley and Brian Flores were fired, the latter despite leading the Dolphins to two winning seasons in three years.
In January, there were nine head coaching vacancies. Only the Texans hired a Black coach, Lovie Smith, and, ironically, that was only after Brian Flores filed his blistering lawsuit against the NFL, Broncos, Dolphins and Giants.
The Undercurrent of Racism in the NFL
There has always existed an undercurrent of racism flowing through the NFL and NFL media. It moves in silence, carefully camouflaging its presence while calculatingly imposing its influence.
Those in power understand how to wield it with acute precision.
We see it with Michele Tafoya. She hid her ignorance while behind an NFL microphone for years until she gave us a glimpse of it on The View in November. Then she fully unleashed it last week only AFTER her time with NBC Sports was over.
And we see it in the NFL’s hiring of Loretta Lynch.
Many question the impact Flores’ hiring will have on his lawsuit. In response, his attorneys issued a statement confirming that the lawsuit is moving forward though.
“While Coach Flores is now focused on his new position, he will continue with his race discrimination class action so that real change can be made in the NFL,” said Flores’ attorney.
For more legal insight, you can also read this thread from Mike Freeman and Adrienne Lawrence.
While I don’t know the legalities involved, I do know that the league understands optics and higher learning.
Hiring Lynch was a brilliant move that counters claims of racial bias. Not only is she brilliant, powerful and successful, she’s also Black. If you’ve ever watched jury selection scenes in Law & Order or Bull, you understand the influence optics and visuals hold over juries, so this becomes a powerful counterpunch by the NFL against Flores 1-2 combo.
A month ago, billionaire and Denver native Robert F. Smith was mentioned as a possible suitor for the Denver Broncos. And despite Smith declaring he had no interest in owning the team, Front Office Sports reported that commissioner Roger Goodell is “leaning on Robert F. Smith, the wealthiest Black person in the U.S., to bid on the Broncos.”
Then two weeks ago, Byron Allen threw his hat in the ring as a potential suitor for the Broncos. He even claimed that Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told him three years ago to explore buying a team.
Why is this important? Because (finally) having a Black NFL team owner would help hamstring Flores’ lawsuit. It would also assist in quelling any future flares-ups about the NFL being racist.
The NFL would also parade it to mask the dearth of Black head coaches because, optics-wise, what’s more impressive- a new Black head coach or the first Black billionaire team owner?
Brian Flores is a qualified, proven and deserving NFL head coach, that’s irrefutable.
And regardless of his pending lawsuit and any future retaliation, Flores is back with an NFL team.
So, celebrate this move by the Steelers but remain vigilant of the NFL’s conduct and practices so that you’re not duped by jury-pleasing optics.
