“I owed HIM that!”: Mike Tomlin says it was his duty to support Brian Flores during his time of need

“I owed HIM that!”: Mike Tomlin says it was his duty to support Brian Flores during his time of need

Brian Flores had filed a lawsuit against three NFL teams on February 1st alleging racial discrimination in their hiring process. The uproar after his claims was huge and a lot of people came forward to share their experiences similar to that of Brian Flores.

Additionally, Flores received a lot of support from the NFL community as well who condemned this racial discrimination and disparity. Brian Flores had then on February 19th joined the Steelers as the senior defensive assistant and linebacker coach.

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Mike Tomlin opens up on Steelers hiring Brian Flores

Brian Flores
Flores during his Miami Dolphins coaching tenure

Mike Tomlin has spoken to the press for the first time since the Steelers welcomed Brian Flores on board. Mike Tomlin made it very clear in the press conference that as soon as he knew about this incident, he wanted to ensure that Flores got all his support.

In fact, his exact words were that he didn’t want Flores to feel as if ‘he was alone on an island’. He also disclosed that they immediately started having talks after that incident and it led forward to Flores being able to join the Steelers.

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“I wanted to stay close to Brian when his legal issues started,” Tomlin said. “I just didn’t want him to feel like he was on an island. I think from a coaching fraternity standpoint I owed him that. I was in a position to provide that. I think that started our interactions and conversations.“

“Over the course of those discussions, particularly when it became evident that he was not going to get ahead job, I think the natural discussion began and it really ran its course rather quickly to be quite honest with you.”

It doesn’t require a lot of time to come to the realization that you could use a Brian Flores on your staff. I was so excited that he shared the same level of enthusiasm about being a part of us as we were about potentially acquiring him. It’s been really good.”

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