The Monday following the NFL’s regular season finale is typically when teams let go of head coaches presiding over under-achieving teams.
Of the group that was fired three weeks ago, Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores was the biggest head-scratcher.
Dolphins owner Steven Ross cited cracks in the foundation hampering the development of the team as chief among reasons why.
Flores is citing racism.
Moments after Flores was fired, he became a popular name associated with head coaching vacancies around the league…or was he merely being used a puppet for teams to satisfy a league rule?
Text messages suggest this is the case in New York where the Giants settled on their next head coach before Flores was interviewed. Flores claims Broncos brass showed up late and hungover for their January meeting. Flores is also suing the Dolphins who he alleges offered him cash to tank the 2019 season.
In 2003 the NFL adopted a rule that requires teams to interview a diverse range of candidates for a given coaching job. In 2009, the rule extended to front office vacancies.
Citing years of inequity, Flores, who remains in the running for jobs in New Orleans and Houston, is putting his coaching career on the line exposing teams for going through the motions when it comes to interviewing diverse candidates.
The NFL had hoped the Rooney Rule would force teams to abolish nepotism and open the door to qualified candidates outside the good-ol-boy-network.
Nearly twenty years later, the Rooney Rule – for some – is nothing more than a box to check.
