When Brian Flores was fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins in January, many Steelers fans wanted him hired as a replacement for retiring defensive coordinator Keith Butler.
The Steelers didn't do that, instead elevating senior defensive assistant/defensive backs coach Teryl Austin to replace Butler. But that didn't stop Mike Tomlin from hiring Flores, anyway.
Tomlin hired Flores as the Steelers' senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach Saturday.
"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," Tomlin said. "Brian's resume speaks for itself, and I look forward to him adding his expertise to help our team."
The move comes after Flores, 40, spent three seasons as head coach of the Dolphins, surprisingly getting fired after leading the Dolphins to winning records in each of the past two seasons. It marked the first time in 20 years the Dolphins had had back-to-back winning seasons. Overall, Flores was 24-25 with Miami.
Flores received a number of head coaching interviews after his firing by the Dolphins and seemed destined to get one of the other eight openings -- not counting Miami -- that were available.
But Flores also filed a class-action lawsuit against the NFL, the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos charging racial discrimination due to the interview process involved with the Rooney Rule, named after longtime Steelers owner Dan Rooney. The rule mandates teams interview minorities for head coaching and coordinator roles while also doing the same for senior executive positions.
Flores' suit alleges the Giants decided to hire Brian Daboll as head coach this year before interviewing any minority candidates -- something the Rooney Rule requires. He also accused the Broncos and team executive John Elway of holding a sham interview with Flores in 2019 for the head coaching position of that team.
Flores also claims that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross put pressure on Flores to lose games in 2019 to improve the team's draft position. The suit alleges that Ross went as far as to offer Flores $100,000 for each loss the Dolphins accumulated that season. The Dolphins surprisingly traded safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the team's No. 1 pick in 2018, to the Steelers that season.
That lawsuit was filed Feb. 1, after Flores had interviews for several head coaching positions in the latest cycle of hirings and firings.
According to his lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, the lawsuit isn't going to be dropped.
"While Coach Flores is now focused on his new position, he will continue with his race discrimination class action so that real change can be made in the NFL," said Wigdor in a statement.
Below is a statement from Douglas H. Wigdor and John Elefterakis, attorneys for Brian Flores, regarding Coach Flores' new position with the @steelers.#BrianFlores #NFL pic.twitter.com/g31dNJPxZW
— WigdorLaw (@WigdorLaw) February 19, 2022
Flores is considered a strong defensive mind, having come up through the Patriots system. He joined New England in 2004 at just 23 as a scouting assistant, becoming a pro scout in 2006 and then joining Bill Belichick's coaching staff in 2008.
When Matt Patricia left the Patriots to become head coach of the Lions, Flores, who was then the Patriots' linebackers coach, also added the duties of calling New England's defense to his plate, though he was not given the title of coordinator.
Butler had been with the Steelers since 2003, when he was hired to coach linebackers. He was named defensive coordinator in 2015, but added outside linebackers back to his duties when Joey Porter was not retained following the 2018 season.
Flores will work in a similar role to the one Austin, 56, performed when he was hired as senior defensive assistant/secondary with the Steelers in 2019. Austin had a big hand in helping Butler draw up defensive game plans and also served as Tomlin's replay advisor in the press box.
Butler claimed after his retirement that Tomlin had called defensive plays instead of him going back to the 2014 season when former coordinator Dick LeBeau was the team's coordinator, though sources contend that wasn't the case and Tomlin only took over defensive play calling in recent seasons.
Austin is expected to be the defensive play caller for the Steelers in 2022.
