Titans Now a Prime Target in Lawsuit on NFL Hiring Practices

Former defensive coordinator points to a public admission by Mike Mularkey that the franchise's 2016 search for a head coach was all for show.

The Tennessee Titans are now caught up in the lawsuit that alleges NFL franchises conduct interviews with minority candidates with no intention to hire those candidates as head coaches.

Ray Horton, the Titans’ defensive coordinator in 2014-15, is one of two coaches who joined the lawsuit filed earlier this offseason by former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores.

Horton interviewed to be the Titans’ head coach in 2016, but the man who got the job, Mike Mularkey, publicly admitted more than a year and a half ago that the decision was made before interviews took place. His legal filing points to a Steelers Realm podcast in 2020 when Mularkey said that controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk made him aware the team planned to conduct what he said was effectively a “fake hiring process.”

Mularkey was named interim head coach for the final nine games of 2015 after Ken Whisenhunt was fired and then had the job for two seasons (2016-17) before he was fired, and Mike Vrabel replaced him.

Horton was one of two minority candidates who interviewed at the time, which satisfied the requirements of the Rooney Rule. The other was then-Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. Doug Marrone, who later became head coach in Jacksonville, was the only other person interviewed.

Last year, Austin interviewed with the Titans once again, this time for defensive coordinator. That job went to Shane Bowen, who was promoted from outside linebackers coach.

The Titans are one of six NFL franchises that never has had a minority head coach or general manager.

“I still regret it,” Mularkey told Steelers Realm. “The ownership there, Amy Adams Strunk and her family, came in and told me I was going to be the head coach in 2016 before they went through the Rooney Rule. And so, I sat there knowing I was the head coach in ’16, as they went through this fake hiring process 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 go that job.

“And actually, the GM Jon Robinson, he was in an interview with me. He had no idea why he is interviewing me, that I have a job already. I regret it … and I’ve regretted that since then. It was the wrong thing to do and I’m sorry I did that, but it was not the way to do that. Should have been interviewed like everybody else and got hired because of the interview, not early on. So that’s probably my biggest regret. … It’s not hard to do the right thing. It’s really not. But you can get caught up in this business.”

The Titans issued the following statement Thursday afternoon:

"Our 2016 head coach search was a thoughtful and competitive process fully in keeping with NFL guidelines and our own organizational values. We conducted detailed, in-person interviews with four talented individuals, two of whom were diverse candidates. No decision was made, and no decision was communicated, prior to the completion of all interviews."

Former Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks also joined Flores’ lawsuit. Wilks claimed he was a “bridge coach” who was given no chance to succeed with that franchise when he was hired in 2018. The Cardinals fired Wilks after one season and a 3-13 record.

Flores filed his lawsuit alleging discrimination against him and other minority coaches back on Feb. 1. He said he felt compelled to take a stand against “systemic racism” in the NFL, even if it meant the end of his career in the league. The Pittsburgh Steelers hired him as a defensive assistant weeks later. Flores’ suit specifically mentions his experiences with the Dolphins, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Houston Texans.

After he failed to land the job as Titans head coach, Horton spent one season as Cleveland’s defensive coordinator (2016) and one season as Washington’s defensive backs coach (2019).

"I am proud to stand with Coach Flores and Coach Wilks in combatting the systemic discrimination, which has plagued the NFL for too long," Horton said in a statement released publicly. "When I learned from Coach Mularkey's comments that my head coach interview with the Titans was a sham, I was devastated and humiliated. 

"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."