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Ray Horton, Steve Wilks join Brian Flores’ lawsuit against NFL


Steve Wilks

Steve Wilks
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An amendment to Brian Flores’ racism lawsuit against the NFL was filed in the Southern District of New York on Thursday, adding longtime NFL defensive coordinator Ray Horton and former head coach. Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks on the complaint.

In the two months since Flores filed a lawsuit against widespread racism in NFL recruiting practices, Commissioner Roger Goodell has been in damage control mode. Shortly after the NFL denounced Flores’ contract as void, the league announced that it was retaining outside experts to assess the NFL’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. In March, the NFL asked all 32 teams to recruit a woman or minority on staff as an offensive assistant.

The longer Flores’ lawsuit evaporated, the more it became public. Flores’ legal team alone collected the receipts. The idea behind a class action is to prove a similar group of people were harmed or harmed as a result of the actions of the other party. Flores’ legal team is well on its way to doing that by bringing in a pair of brilliant coaches. Wilks and Horton are likely to strengthen Flores’ case against the NFL by introducing potential testimony from multiple affected parties.

Wilks, who spent a year at Mizzou after 14 seasons in the NFL, remains an active coach, having been hired to serve as double-pass game coordinator and sub-coach. Aspects of Wilks’ complaint were included in Flores’ original filing, but more detail was added in their recent filing. Wilks accused that the Cardinals just hired him as a “bridge coach” and that “[he was] handled a tough hand. The allusions to Wilks’ tough hand are a reference to general manager Steve Keim being suspended for the first four games of the season for a DUI.

Cam hires Kliff Kingsbury to replace Wilks before the Kyler Murray draft franchise. In his only season as head coach of the Cardinals, Wilks won 3-13. Kingsbury won 5-10-1 with the No. 1 overall pick at center in his first season in charge.

A decade ago, Ray Horton was a highly sought-after defensive mind. After becoming a head coaching candidate, he was put through the wringer twice. In 2012, the Cardinals defense he revamped finished with one of the NFL’s 10 best turnover percentages and third in scoring percentage, which calculates the rate of drives that end in a touchdown or field goal, despite Ken Whisenhunt’s offense faltering all season.

Horton was so crestfallen after the Cardinals hired Bruce Arians (while leading him to believe that he’d be the leading candidate, that he got into a public with Keim. However, Horton’s interview process with the Titans could be a blow to the NFL’s defence. In 2014, Horton followed Ken Whisenhunt to join the Tennessee Titans staff as their defensive coordinator. Ater Whisenhunt was relieved of his duties, Horton interviewed for the position of head coach. Instead, the Titans chose to go with interim head coach Mike Mularkey. Mularkey is a sub-tenant who won 18 of his 57 games in Jacksonville.

Horton alleges that the Titans conducted a fake interview with him and the then Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin on file. An unearthed Mularkey interview from 2020 on Ross Tucker Football Podcast corroborate Horton’s allegations.

“And so I sat there knowing I was the head coach in 2016, when they went through this fake hiring process knowing … a lot of the coaches they were interviewing, knew they were prepared. how much it takes to go through those interviews, knowing everything they can do and they don’t get the chance to do the job,” Mularkey said, via the revised complaint. “And actually, GM Jon Robinson, he was in an interview with me. He didn’t know why he was interviewing me, that I had a job. I regret that. … And I have regretted it ever since. I’m sorry I did that, but it’s not the way to do it. Should have been interviewed like everyone else and hired for the reason of the interview was not early. ”

Mularkey’s wistful comments, highlighting his stark realization that he and the Titans are at odds with other coaches, are even more detrimental to the league than Bill Belichick’s mixing His coach Brians. Confessions straight from the mouth of a prominent white man will carry more weight in the public eye and, more importantly, in civil court. Nearly two years after retiring from coaching, Mularkey has nothing to lose and is not afraid of bad luck. Better late than never.

For Horton, it was too late when he retired in 2010. However, Horton says he wants to improve conditions in the NFL for coaches of color like Eric Bieniemy, Wilks and Teryl Austin.

After being overtaken by the Titans, Austin interviewed for the vacant job of Jim Caldwell in December 2017, before returning to the league. His only season at Cincinnati during the 2018 season was spent with Marvin Lewis staff and in 2019 he joined the Steelers defense in 2019. On February 9, days after With Flores’ lawsuits putting the league in jeopardy, Tomlin promoted Austin to defensive coordinator. Tomlin hired Flores as a senior defensive assistant two weeks later.

After Tomlin hired Flores in March, he explain his reasons. Tomlin explained, “I don’t want him [Flores] to feel like he was on an island. I think from a coaching brother’s point of view, I owe him that. ”

Flores initially went the Kaepernick route, pursuing this case against the NFL alone, but with numerical strength. In Flores’ case, the black coach brotherhood is showing solidarity against the NFL.





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