Two more black NFL coaches have added their names to the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the NFL by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores.
On Thursday, 14-year NFL coaching veteran Steve Wilks, who is black, claimed that the Arizona Cardinals hired him as head coach for the 2018 season as a “bridge coach.” Wilks was fired after the 2018 season when the Cardinals went 3-13. Kliff Kingsbury, who is white, was hired in 2019.
“Mr. Wilks, given the same opportunity afforded to Mr. Kingsbury, surely would have succeeded as well,” Wilks’s lawyers said.
“When Coach Flores filed this action, I knew I owed it to myself, and to all Black NFL coaches and aspiring coaches, to stand with him,” Wilks said in a statement released by his lawyers. “This lawsuit has shed further important light on a problem that we all know exists, but that too few are willing to confront. Black coaches and candidates should have exactly the same ability to become employed, and remain employed, as white coaches and candidates. That is not currently the case, and I look forward to working with Coach Flores and Coach Horton to ensure that the aspiration of racial equality in the NFL becomes a reality.”
Wilks was hired as the Carolina Panthers defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach for the 2022 offseason.
The second black coach to join the lawsuit — Ray Horton — is the former defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans, and claims that the Titans brought him in for a “sham interview” to be their head coach in 2016. Horton claims that the Titans interviewed him only to satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule, which requires that a team must interview a minority candidate for prominent open positions.
Mike Mularkey, a white man who was hired to be the Titans head coach in 2016 and coached Tennessee for three seasons, said in a 2020 podcast appearance that he was told by Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk that he would be offered the job before Horton was interviewed.
“So I sat there knowing I was the head coach in 2016, as they went through this fake hiring process knowing, knowing a lot of the coaches that they were interviewing, knowing how much they prepared to go through those interviews, knowing that everything they could do and they had no chance to get that job,” Mularkey said in the interview.
In a Thursday statement, Horton said that he was “devastated and humiliated” when he heard Mularkey’s 2020 comments.
“When I learned from Coach Mularkey’s statements that my head coach interview with the Titans was a sham, I was devastated and humiliated,” Horton said in a statement. “By joining this case, I am hoping to turn that experience into a positive and make lasting change and create true equal opportunity in the future.”
Both the Titans and the Cardinals have denied any wrongdoing.
“Our 2016 head coach search was an open and competitive process during which we conducted in-person interviews with four candidates and followed all NFL rules,” the Titans said in a statement. “The organization was undecided on its next head coach during the process and made its final decision after consideration of all four candidates following the completion of the interviews.”
In February, Flores sued the National Football League and several individual teams, naming the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants, and the Dolphins, for racial discrimination in the NFL’s hiring process.
“Because we need change,” Flores said when asked why he filed the lawsuit. “That was the number one reason. And I know there is a sacrifice, there’s risk to that. But, at the end of the day, we need change. I know many very capable black coaches, some on my staff, who if given an opportunity, are going to go and do a great job on their interview.”
“We need to change the hearts and minds of the people making those decisions,” Flores continued. “That’s why we filed the lawsuit.”
Last week, the NFL announced that every team will be required to hire a minority assistant coach on the offensive staff, according to NFL.com. The individual can be a minority or a female, and will be signed to a one-year deal, partially paid from a league-wide fund.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].