“We can’t blame him” - Stephen A. Smith sides with Mike Tomlin for giving Brian Flores a coaching job amidst lawsuit against NFL
Stephen A. Smith, ESPN personality and co-host of First Take, believes the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin, was right to hire former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as senior defensive assistant/linebacker coach amidst the latter's lawsuit against the NFL.
Flores is suing the NFL, alleging racial discrimination in its hiring practices, and was relieved of his duties in Miami in January after back-to-back winning seasons.
Speaking on First Take, Stephen A. sided with Tomlin for hiring Flores in a coaching role despite his current legal action against the league.
"If Mike Tomlin, for example, decided to throw a lifeline for Brian Flores," Smith said. "Could we blame him? We can’t blame him."
"Because the reality of the situation is that, " Smith continued, "what is the thing that has been incredibly pervasive in the National Football League over decades? White dudes hiring white dudes. That's what's been going on. You ain’t been hiring black dudes.”
Stephen A. Smith also spoke about the lack of opportunities for black coaches in the NFL in head coaching roles, singling out the Houston Texans situation where they were looking to hire Josh McCown as their head coach.
"We can look at the fact that the Houston Texans got rid of David Culley, and Josh McCown, who never coached in college, never coached in the Pros. He was a high school coach. A high school coach was the leading candidate for the NFL head coaching job for the Houston Texas until all of this noise came down," Smith added.
"That's not happening for black people," the First Take host continued. "It’s not happening. So we can look at Eric Bieniemy, we can look at DeMeco Ryans. We can look at a plethora of black candidates. Okay, the Leslie Fraziers of the world, we can go that route. We could go Todd Bowles, we could go Byron Leftwich, the list goes on and on and on of brothers that were being bypassed.”
Mike Tomlin excited about new hire
Stephen A. sided with Mike Tomlin and the Steelers in hiring Brian Flores, and the head coach of Pittsburgh has spoken about how excited he is about Flores joining his coaching staff.
Tomlin praised Flores' ability in 'developing and teaching' defensive players and that his 'resume speaks for itself'.
Mike Tomlin on Brian Flores: “I am excited about Brian Flores joining our coaching staff given his history of developing and teaching defensive players during his time in the NFL. Brian's resume speaks for itself, and I look forward to him adding his expertise to help our team."
Flores joined the Steelers franchise who are looking to rebuild after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 season. There is no doubt Flores' ability as a coach will benefit the Steelers moving forward.