Steelers linebackers coach Brian Flores will be back at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night for the first time since the Dolphins fired him as their head coach earlier this year and his acrimonious departure from the team has made that return an angle this week.
Flores was fired after back-to-back winning seasons and subsequently sued the Steelers, three other teams and the NFL for discriminating against minority coaching candidates. Other coaches, including Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks, joined the suit and Flores’ filing included allegations that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered to incentivize him to lose games in order to improve the team’s draft position.
Given that history, it was inevitable that Flores would be asked if he views this Sunday’s game as a chance to get a measure of revenge on the Dolphins.
“No, no,” Flores said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com. “That’s not the way I’m looking at it now. . . . I don’t have bad memories of the place. I have a lot of good memories, but my focus is here right now. When I think of that place, I think of all the relationships that were built there that are bigger than football and will go a long way beyond football. There’s a lot of those that like that there, players, coaches, support staff. That’s kind of where my thought process goes.”
Flores’ full feelings about the Dolphins are likelier a bit more complicated than he let on, but none of them will allow him to do anything on the field Sunday night so keeping his focus on preparing the guys who will be taking snaps is likely the right approach.