The document that the NFL and research firm Korn Ferry didn’t want the public to see has been revealed.
The article is attached to an additional complaint filed by Flores against the Miami Dolphins, as part of his lawsuit first filed in February 2022.
The document in question, which is attached as an exhibit to the supplemental complaint, contains a summary of Flores’ “strengths and weaknesses,” as prepared by Korn Ferry.
The document includes this assessment as one of seven points in the “weaknesses” category: “He needs someone strong at the top to reign in (sic) some of his worst behavior. He once threatened violence against his CEO and made irrational demands during an ownership meeting.. A long-time senior executive of the team said: “It may have changed since then, but it was the worst hiring decision we’ve ever made. Another club president declined to speak about him. (Emphasis added.)
Another point says this: “Ongoing litigation can be a distraction.” (Emphasis in original.)
The Raiders, who received this evaluation from Korn Ferry, did not interview Flores for the team’s head coaching position on which Korn Ferry was consulting.
The additional complaint filed by Flores accuses the Dolphins of making a statement calling it “the worst hiring decision we have ever made.”
Flores’ lawyers at Wigdor LLP and Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek issued a statement Tuesday, a copy of which was received by PFT.
“The newly revealed documents demonstrate two unfortunate, but unsurprising, realities,” they said. “First, Mr. Flores’ decision to hold the league and its teams accountable for systemic racial discrimination resulted in unlawful retaliation. Second, discrimination continues to play a significant role in the NFL’s head coaching hiring process, as evidenced by the fact that the candidate profile prepared for the Raiders relied heavily on racial stereotypes. We and Mr. Flores are committed to eradicating the institutional racism and retaliation that permeate the league, its teams and their partners.
In our opinion, characterizing Flores as “the worst hiring decision we’ve ever made” makes it much more difficult for Flores to secure a head coaching job, and it opens the door to the question of whether that assessment was motivated in whole or in part by Flores exercising his prerogative to challenge the decision to fire him via filing a lawsuit.
Given the casual manner in which these statements appeared in a formal Flores summary prepared by Korn Ferry, it’s fair to wonder how many more breadcrumbs his lawyers will uncover during the discovery process — especially once they get their hands (and eyes) on informal communications between owners and executives, such as emails and text messages.
Gn sports
