While Brian Flores may have used a text exchange with Bill Belichick to trigger his lawsuit against the NFL, he claims he doesn’t hold any grudges towards the Patriots head coach and his former mentor.
During a guest appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast, Flores characterized Belichick’s text as an honest mistake.
“I’m not mad,” Flores said. “Bill did what a lot of us — he sent a text message to the wrong person. I’m certainly guilty of that before. To me, I thought it was specific to the lawsuit in that it confirmed a lot of the things that I thought were going on — that I think a lot of Black or minority coaches think are going on, it kind of confirmed it for me.
“As far as having a fair and equal opportunity to go and interview and show your acumen, show your intelligence, show your ability to lead, show your willingness and your leadership. Often times, it’s not a fair and equal playing field.”
Belichick was seemingly trying to send a congratulatory text to Brian Daboll days before Flores would even interview for the job.
“He’s certainly (the GOAT),” Flores said. “I think the one thing people don’t know about Bill is he listens. He listens. So if you have — and again, you’ve gotta earn the right for him to listen — but if you have an idea, if you have a thought, if you have a person or there’s a matchup you think that we can win, a part in the game, he’ll listen. He may add something to it. He may throw it out. But he listens. I think that’s one of his greatest strengths.”
Flores has since gotten a job with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
