Though I love sports, and talk on sports ethics, the following post is not meant to be another set of comments about the ongoing litigation between recently fired Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores and the NFL and/or the other teams he is suing in regard to his racial discrimination complaint.
In fact. I recently wrote about the overall head coach percentages in the NFL. It is abysmal. In a league where about 65 percent of the players are Black, the NFL currently has only one Black head coach out of 32. In about a week there will be two, but neither is Brian Flores.
Identity and Color?
The Houston Texans football team is about to hire a new head coach, and it is Lovie Smith, a Black man and former head coach of the Chicago Bears. Here is where it all gets sticky, and leaves the realm of sports and becomes a broader topic.
When Brian Flores was fired, he sued the Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and the NFL claiming racial discrimination. The Dolphins claimed he was underperforming.
In fairness to Flores, considering how terrible the Dolphins have been in recent years, under Flores they had a decent record hovering around .500. However, I am not the owner or GM of the Dolphins organization. Were they expecting “play-offs?”
In addition, I am not privy to anything that might have happened behind the scenes. Frankly, none of us are. Was he a great person to work with, or an angry, vindictive jerk? I have no idea.
Flores hired a powerful New York law firm, and on behalf of their client, they are seeking justice and restitution for his firing.
When the Houston Texans hired Lovie Smith, it upset Flores and his lawsuit. According to sports writer (CBS Sports) Cody Benjamin:
“Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, doesn’t believe Houston made its decision based on merit. Flores’ attorneys suggested…that the only reason the Texans hired Smith over Flores is because the latter has a pending lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in hiring practices.”
In other words, had Flores not gone after the Dolphins, Broncos and the NFL, the job with the Texans would have been his.
The Texans head manager, Nick Caserio, has repeatedly said that the ongoing litigation in regard to Flores has had nothing to do with the decision to hire Lovie Smith. I would be remiss in not pointing out that this past season, Lovie Smith was an assistant coach with the Texans and had a personal relationship with Caserio.
There seems to be a lot of “playing nice” around this issue, but little honesty. Brian Flores has said that as someone who champions equity, he is proud of Lovie Smith being hired. Lovie Smith has also stated great support for Brian Flores. Nevertheless, in claiming the job should have been his, Flores and his legal firm are throwing more than just a little doubt (some might call it “shade”) on the hiring process.
Up until the day before Lovie Smith was hired, Flores was a candidate for the Texans job as well as the New Orleans Saints head coaching job. Perhaps that is why he (and presumably) his law firm are so angry.
But is it fair? How far out do these analogies go and how long can Brian Flores extend his complaint? It brings up a number of ethical issues.
Choices and Consequences
We are free to sue a former employer and even the association above it if we have been wrongly treated. However, to claim another job slot is automatically ours is ethically unfair. For whatever reason, the Houston Texans chose one man over another. Both men were Black.
It was the choice of the Texans to hire the candidate whom they thought to be the best candidate. Whether it is true, or not, is not for us to say. There is all manner of individuals who claim to know the inside truth and they have put out numerous statements, but it is conjecture. No one is voluntarily willing to go on record with something definitive.
The Texans claim that their search process started in mid-January. This is the decision they reached. The Flores lawsuit was initiated in February. How many teams can the Flores legal team sue?
The hiring practices of organizations have been under the microscope for many decades, and whether this scrutiny has been applied to race, religion, sexual orientation or gender, it is difficult to pinpoint where in the string of events stops and starts.
In the end, organizations must be ethically and mindfully trained. If the playing field is made level, can we then come along and “unlevel it?” If so, where does the un-leveling stop? Will it lead us to “identity” selections, where a Blacker man is hired over a Black man or a transgender woman is intentionally hired over a woman?
In the end, I am hoping the NFL conducts a thorough review of hiring practices however, even if they were to require that 50 percent of the teams must have Black head coaches, it still doesn’t land Brian Flores the prize.
Even if the government were to step in (please, no), ethics and only ethics will assure us of a more fair outcome. That move will take courage. Who will step up?
