Brian Flores is a great young coach who did a good job holding the Miami Dolphins together after a disastrous three-year tenure under former head coach Adam Gase.
In 2019, Flores, fresh off a Super Bowl LIII win with New England, became the first Black head coach in Dolphins history, inheriting a 7-9 team that was reeling and lacked leadership, discipline and star power.
His historic tenure began poorly, as the team started 0-7. But they finished 5-11, which included a huge 27-20 victory in New England over his former boss on a late TD with only 24 seconds remaining. That win gave Dolphins fans hope for the following season.
Flores responded with a 10-6 season in year two and a 9-8 record in his third and final season in South Beach.
While the team rebounded from three straight losing seasons in 2020, drama also emerged that year after the team selected Tua Tagovailoa fifth overall in the NFL Draft.
Flores had reportedly wanted Justin Herbert, who went sixth to the Chargers, so the tension started at that moment.
Tua ended up getting hurt in his rookie season and missed six games. In 2021, his last under Flores, and in 2022, Tua missed games as well. In 2023, Tua thrived and played his first full season without injury. Working with head coach Mike McDaniel, and receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Tua threw for 4,624 yards, 29 TDs and 14 INTs and earned his first Pro Bowl nod.
In contrast, Flores was fired after the 2021 season, sued the team and league for racial discrimination, was hired by the Steelers in a role he was way overqualified for and then finally ended up in Minnesota as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator.
So both moved on and the past was the past.
At least we thought it was.
Earlier this week, Tua appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and vented years of frustration with his former head coach.
“To put it in simplest terms,” said Tagovailoa. “if you woke up every morning, and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this. You are accurate, you are the best whatever, you are this, you are that.’ How would that make you feel, listening to one or the other? You see what I’m saying?”
It’s obvious they didn’t get along, but Tua didn’t stop there.
“And then you hear it and hear it — regardless of what it is, the good or the bad — and you hear it more and more, you start to actually believe that. I don’t care who you are,” said Tagovailoa. “(If) you have a terrible person that’s telling (you) things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing, you’re gonna start to believe that about yourself. That’s sort of what ended up happening. It’s basically been two years of training that out of, not just me, but a couple of the guys as well that have been here since my rookie year all the way ’til now.”
Now the disdain the Dolphins’ Pro Bowl QB has for his former coach, which isn’t a surprise, is out in the open for basically no reason.
So instead of focusing on getting the Vikings’s defense ready for the season opener in two weeks, Flores had to address Tua’s feelings.
To his credit, he chose the high road.
“I’m genuinely, genuinely happy for the success that Tua has had,” Flores said, “and I really wish him nothing but the best.”
Flores was obviously taken aback after Tua lashed out, and, according to ESPN, spent almost 20 minutes addressing the issue.
“Look, I’m human,” responded Flores. “So that hit me in a way that wasn’t…positive for me. But at the same time, I’ve got to use that and say, ‘Hey, how can I grow from that? How can I be better?’ And that’s really where I’m at from that standpoint. Do I feel like that’s me? No. But how can I grow from that situation and create a world where that’s not the case that anyone says that about Brian Flores?”
Flores is a product of the Bill Belichick “tough-love” coaching school. It’s a style that doesn’t work for everyone, especially the newer generation of players. He’s also a Brooklyn-born-and-raised boy who played defense, the complete opposite of Mike McDaniel’s style and background.
As the Dolphins’ head coach, he felt the team was better off without Tua, which was his prerogative. But now Tua has dragged them both into an arena that neither should be in.
And this has caused a bigger issue for Flores than Tua.
Now, many are piling on Flores and blasting him for mistreating Tua in Miami. Even more significantly, according to Front Office Sports, Tua’s revelation could negatively impact Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit.
That’s extremely unfair to a coach who had to clean up the mess left behind by Gase and stabilize an organization that was going downhill fast.
Yet Flores didn’t shy away from the issue and accepted his role in their strained relationship.
“I think part of coaching is correcting,” Flores said. “I’m always going to correct. I’m always going to have a high standard. And I think, look, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the situation, reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there’s things that I could do better for sure, and I’ve grown in that way, and I’ve tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I’ve learned over the last two, three years.”
After being blackballed by the league for filing a racial discrimination lawsuit, which might prevent him from ever becoming an NFL head coach again, Flores found a home in Minnesota.
But now Tua has shattered his newfound happiness because he couldn’t let the past go.
