A lawsuit brought by football coach Brian Flores is rocking the NFL. Flores, the one-time Patriots defensive coordinator who was fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins last month, is accusing the league of racism in its hiring practices. With us to talk about the lawsuit and race in the NFL in general is UMass Boston professor and sports scholar Joseph Cooper. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Arun Rath: Professor Cooper, thanks for joining us.
Joseph Cooper: Good afternoon. Thank you for having me.
Rath: So for people who don't follow football, let's start off by setting up what the Rooney Rule is because that will play into how we understand what happened with with Brian Flores. Explain what the Rooney Rule is and the NFL's internal NFL policy.
Cooper: Sure. The Rooney Rule was established in 2003. It was an idea that was presented by the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Art Rooney, who was a proponent of increasing diversity in the coaching ranks within the NFL. And, essentially, the Rooney Rule requires that [for] any head coaching vacancy or coaching vacancy within the NFL, that teams are required to interview what they call a "minority" candidate.
Throughout the history of the NFL and all major professional sport leagues, a majority of the coaches have been white — and particularly in male sports, white males — regardless of the fact that many of these leagues are over 50%, 70% Black. Typically, the number of the racial diversity among the coaches has not followed the same percentage of the players that are racially diverse.
So the spirit of the rule was to increase opportunities. It's had mixed results, and some would go as far to say that it's been ineffective. If you don't have owners and general managers who are willing to enforce it and to really engage in it with the spirit that it was intended, then you are going to continue to see the status quo of white males continue to occupy a vast majority, if not all, of those positions.
Rath: Which sets the stage for understanding the context of what happened with Brian Flores. So Brian Flores is an African American head coach, or former head coach, because he lost his job. But he is looking for a job and he's in a pool of people being interviewed, and he's going to be interviewed by the New York Giants and gets a text from Bill Belichick. Tell us what happened.
Cooper: Brian Flores was scheduled to interview with the New York Giants, his former [team]. He was an assistant coach with Bill Belichick, or coordinator, and actually won a Super Bowl. I think it's important to mention the credentials of Brian Flores, because one of the reasons provided for why there is a lack of Black head coaches in the NFL is that, well, they're not qualified or, well, they don't have merit — and he actually is a Super Bowl–winning coordinator.
But back to your question, three days prior to when he was scheduled to interview with the New York Giants, Bill Belichick inadvertently sent a text to him, Brian Flores, saying "Congratulations on getting the New York Giants position." And Flores was a little perplexed because he's saying, "You know, our interview was on Thursday. Are you sure you're texting the right Brian?" And Belichick subsequently texted, in so many words: "My apologies, I meant to text Brian Daboll. He's going to be the new head coach of the New York Giants. I'm sorry that the text went to you unintentionally."
So if that chain of events is accurate, what that suggests is that the New York Giants had already selected Brian Daboll, who is a white male, prior to interviewing Brian Flores, who is a Black male. If these allegations are true, what it suggests is that the spirit of the Rooney Rule was violated: That they already knew who they wanted to hire, and they did not give a fair chance and an equal opportunity to Brian Flores, who they had scheduled for an interview three days later.
Rath: So assuming that these facts, as we've laid out, are correct, that would just seem to lay everything bare about the Rooney Rule just being kind of a sham. But to go from that to proving there's racism in the NFL in a legal way, where does Coach Flores go from here?
Cooper: I mean, I think the class action lawsuit is a step in a progressive direction. I think he's got a set of evidence, at least to support his stance, to show a pattern of behavior among different teams engaging in actions that are highly questionable. It is going to be challenging to definitively say that race was a factor that was involved. I think that the accumulation of evidence that Flores is presenting, and then if you line that up with stories of other Black coaches and you begin to compare how or these firings and hirings are taking place — let's look at the records of the Black coaches, and then look at some of the white coaches who get opportunities and look at their backgrounds and their merits.
I give this example quite often: The NFL currently has one black coach out of 32 teams. That coach is Mike Tomlin, who not ironically is the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, where the Rooney Rule came out of that particular franchise. But Mike Tomlin is the only NFL coach in NFL history to have 15 consecutive non-losing seasons. What that means is that the only Black head coach has a Hall of Fame record. There are numerous white male coaches who have been hired over the past two decades who have far less merit credentials compared to number of Black coaches who either have been denied an opportunity to be a head coach or have been fired, you know, and not rehired, in the case of Brian Flores.
Rath: Right now, we're everybody's talking about how the elephant in the room is finally being talked about here, but we know that the the NFL has good lawyers. Do you think, though, is this a point where maybe because of the legal process, because of a leaked text, because of what might happen from here, that that wall might finally get cracked and we might get a chance to see how things really work in the NFL and things might actually change?
Cooper: If we look historically, we'll probably be more pessimistic. Normally, these cases get settled out of court and there's nominal changes to the status quo that don't lead to substantive changes. However, I do think we are in a unique period of time in U.S. history and world history where racial justice is being centralized in conversations. The verdict is still out as to whether — literally and figuratively — as to to what extent this recent lawsuit will lead to substantive change. But I do think it is very timely. I think it exhibits courage on behalf of Flores to bring this attention to the forefront and to challenge it legally.
We know throughout the history of the United States, many vulnerable groups and groups that have been subjected to oppression do not experience certain advances until there is legal action. I don't know if this case, specifically, will be the one to change it, but I do think that this is a part of the collective effort to ensure that the NFL is engaged in more equitable practices that champion and reflect true diversity, equity, inclusion and equal opportunity irrespective of race.
Rath: Professor Cooper, it's been great speaking with you. Thank you.
Cooper: Thank you.
Rath: That's UMass Boston professor and sports scholar Joseph Cooper. This is GBH’s All Things Considered.
