Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores said on Tuesday's ''I Am Athlete" podcast that race ''played a role'' in his being terminated.
''I think race played a role in my firing,'' said Flores, who is suing the NFL regarding its minority head coach practices. ''What I mean by that is there were things I was asked to do. There were conversations that were had. I was made out to be a difficult person to work with. I think my white counterparts wouldn't have been asked to do the things I was asked to do.''
Flores was fired from the Dolphins head coaching position in January, three years into his five-year contract, after losing seven straight games in the 2021 season, after the team went 10-6 in 2020 and was expected to be competitive, ESPN reported at the time.
"I've been looking at this over three years now and watching the organization grow," Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in the ESPN article. "And I think an organization can only function if it's collaborative, and it works well together. And I don't think that we were really working well as an organization that it would take to really win consistently at the NFL level."
On the podcast with co-hosts Chad Johnson and Brandon Marshall, both former NFL wide receivers, and Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Flores acknowledged being a ''strong personality,'' but said there were other reasons the team let him go, including race.
''There's a change of heart that needs to happen,'' Flores said. ''We've got to open our minds up.''
The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Flores over the weekend as a senior defensive assistant for head coach Mike Tomlin who is also Black, The Associated Press reported.
Citing his four Super Bowl wins as part of the New England Patriots and the defensive calls he made in the team's sixth championship over the Los Angeles Rams in 2019, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said he hired Flores to ''help us win games.''
''I think [the hiring] says that we hired a very good quality defensive coach that can maybe help us win games,'' Colbert told the AP. ''And really beyond that, there's nothing else to say.''
Despite his new position, Flores said he was moving forward with a class-action lawsuit accusing the Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos of racial discrimination in their hiring practices for Black head coach positions.
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