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Steve Wilks and Ray Horton Join Brian Flores’s Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against NFL

The two former coaches listed their experiences with the NFL’s hiring practices and how they were discriminated against.

Madison Williams

Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, two NFL coaches, joined Brian Flores’s lawsuit against the NFL on Thursday.

On Feb. 1, Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL, three of its franchises—Giants, Broncos and Dolphins—and 29 “John Doe” teams, accusing the league of racial discrimination in its hiring practices. In joining the complaint, Wilks and Horton cited their own experiences in the league.

Wilks was the Cardinals’ head coach during the 2018 season. According to The New York Times, he claims in the amended lawsuit that the team only hired him as a “bridge coach” and did not have long-term plans to keep him on the team. 

He said the general manager Steve Keim “made poor personnel decisions.” The amended complaint also asserts that though Keim was charged and pleaded guilty to a DUI—a fireable offense—in 2018, he was allowed to keep his job. 

Wilks was fired on Dec. 31 2018, and was replaced by Kliff Kingsbury, who had no NFL coaching experience prior to his hiring. He is now an assistant with the Panthers.

“Like Brian and Ray, I did not make the decision to join this lawsuit based on what it could potentially cost me in my own career,” Wilks said in a statement, per the Times. “Instead, this decision was made to help pave the way for the next generation of talented minority coaches and executives to finally be given an equal opportunity and level playing field. When I consider that joining this call for equality could one day help a child of color who dreams of coaching an NFL team, what I stand to lose becomes irrelevant.”

The Cardinals released a statement to Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr on Thursday concerning the matter, saying, “The decisions we made after the 2018 season were very difficult ones. But as we said at the time, they were entirely driven by what was in the best interests of our organization and necessary for team improvement. We are confident that the facts reflect that and demonstrate that these allegations are untrue.” 

Horton joined the complaint because he claims the Titans conducted a “sham” interview with him in order to meet the Rooney Rule requirements. In 2016, the then defensive coordinator for Tennessee applied to the team’s head coach opening. The now 61-year-old had spent over two decades in the league coaching. 

The Titans ended up hiring Mike Mularkey, who later spoke on the Inside Pro Football podcast and admitted that Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk and her family had told him ahead of the Rooney Rule interviews that he would be hired. 

“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, per the Times. “Although I know that I am taking a risk being associated with this case, it would be a bigger risk to stand on the sideline and give the NFL a pass for the systemic discrimination that has harmed me and so many others.”

The Titans released a statement on Thursday night, denying the claims.

“Our 2016 head coach search was a thoughtful and competitive process fully in keeping with NFL guidelines and our own organizational values,” the team said. “We conducted detailed, in-person interviews with four talented individuals, two of whom were diverse candidates. No decision was made, an no decision was communicated, prior to the completion of all interviews. While we are proud of Our Commitment to Diversity, we are dedicated to continued growth as an organization to foster diversity and inclusion in our workplace and community.” 

Similar to Horton, Flores noted in his lawsuit that he participated in two sham interviews with the Giants and the Broncos. Both teams have denied the claims. 

Flores also claimed in the lawsuit that Miami owner Stephen Ross offered him a $100,000 bonus for each loss during the 2019 season, wanting to secure the league’s worst record so they could have the No. 1 pick in the ’20 draft. Ross has denied these claims. 

Flores, Horton and Wilks issued statements on Thursday following the news the two former coaches would be joining the complaint, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

“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. “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.” 

The pretrial conference for the lawsuit is currently scheduled for April 29.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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