The hiring cycle for head coaches is complete, and Brian Flores is left without a job. I’ll be interested to see where he lands, because he’s proven himself to be one of the game’s better coaches.
When Flores took over in Miami in 2019, that team was a dumpster fire – with management wanting to rip things down and build over. Flores was able to put together 10-6 and 9-8 teams in his final two seasons. But the Dolphins fired Flores after he butted heads with management. If what Flores says is true, the friction started back in 2019, when he refused to intentionally lose games.
Now Flores has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit that names multiple teams – Dolphins, Giants, Broncos – and the entire league. That will scare off some (maybe most) owners. It would take a confident, secure owner with some ability to think outside the box to take him on. He comes with some potential for extra attention, drama and controversy.
But Flores also seems to be one of the game’s up-and-coming coaches. He’s only 40, he’s had some success, and he definitely has the ability to command a room – he’s an alpha-type personality. If you’re looking to check the “leader of men” box, I would be more comfortable with Flores rather than some of these young offensive coordinators who are now being elevated into head coaching jobs.
Flores is also Black, which could be a plus. About 70 percent of the league’s players are African American, and Flores reasonably could have a better ability than most coaches to understand and connect with a lot of those players. I could see him developing into another Mike Tomlin who’s a successful coach for years and years.
The NFL thus far has been better are firing rather than hiring Black coaches. In the last 20 years, only nine coaches have been fired after winning seasons, and three of them have been African American. With all but two of the coaches in the chart below, by the way, they finished with winning records in both of their final two seasons (Lovie Smith went 8-8 in his next-to-last season with the Bears, while Eric Mangini went 4-12 in 2007 with the Jets).
| COACHES FIRED AFTER WINNING SEASONS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | Coach | W-L | Note |
| 2002 | San Francisco | Steve Mariucci | 10-6 | 22-10 in last 2 yrs |
| 2006 | San Diego | Marty Schottenheimer | 14-2 | playoff struggles |
| 2008 | NY Jets | Eric Mangini | 9-7 | late-season slide |
| 2008 | Tampa Bay | Jon Gruden | 9-7 | 7 yrs (Super Bowl in '02) |
| 2012 | Chicago | • Lovie Smith | 10-6 | 9 yrs (Coach of Yr in '05) |
| 2014 | Denver | John Fox | 12-4 | playoff struggles |
| 2017 | Detroit | • Jim Caldwell | 9-7 | 4 yrs (36-28 record) |
| 2017 | Tennessee | Mike Mularkey | 9-7 | 2 yrs (9-7 in both) |
| 2021 | Miami | Brian Flores | 9-8 | 3 yrs (10-6 in '20) |
One of those fired coaches, Lovie Smith, is getting a second chance with the Texans. That seems like a reasonable hire. He went 84-66 in nine years with the Bears, and he had that Houston defense playing hard last year. Considering the talent they had, I thought the Texans punched above their weight – they beat the Titans and Chargers.
As for Flores, I imagine he’ll either land as a coordinator or take a head-coaching job at the college level. I would hope that after a year or two passes, he’ll get another chance at being a head coach at the NFL level.
—Ian Allan