ATLANTA — Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the NFL and three of its teams of racial bias in hiring and firing decisions. In response, the NFL released a statement in which it claims that diversity is “core to everything we do.” I wonder if the author of that line kept a straight face while typing it.
The league also claimed that Flores’ claims are “without merit.” The NFL must have worked hard to vet those allegations in the hours between when Flores’ attorneys filed the lawsuit and the league released its statement. Nothing to see there.
The NFL knows it has a problem. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he’s not happy about the lack of Black coaches. Troy Vincent, the NFL vice president of football operations, acknowledges a “double standard” for judging those coaches. Yet the league keeps going backward with hiring Black head coaches and retaining them even when they beat expectations.
