Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores joins Pittsburgh Steelers as defensive assistant/linebacker coach; Flores was fired from the Dolphins in January and is suing the NFL and three teams for alleged racial discrimination in employment.
The Pittsburgh Steelers hired former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as senior defensive assistant/linebacker coach.
Flores began his NFL coaching career with the New England Patriots in 2008 and spent most of his career there before joining the Dolphins as head coach in 2019.
He finished with a 24-25 record in three seasons before Miami fired him in January despite back-to-back winning records (10-6 and 9-8).
Flores will assist defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who has been promoted to replace retired coach Keith Butler.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said, “I’m delighted to have Brian Flores join our coaching staff, given his experience developing and training defensemen during his time in the NFL.”
We have appointed Brian Flores as our senior defensive/linebacker assistant.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 19, 2022
“Brian’s resume speaks for itself and I look forward to him sharing his experience to help our team.”
In his lawsuit, Flores suggested that the NFL and team owners run the business like a “plantation” and also criticized the league for not adequately addressing racism regarding the hiring of black coaches and general managers.
Flores claimed that the New York Giants interviewed him this offseason to follow the “Rooney Rule” when interviewing minority coaches, despite the fact that they had already decided to appoint a new head coach, Brian Daball. He said the Denver Broncos conducted a similar “dummy” interview in 2019.
He went on to say that Dolphins owner Steven Ross offered him $100,000 for each loss in the 2019 season in Miami to put the team in an advantageous position in the NFL Draft.
