A one-page memo that a recruiting firm wrote about Brian Flores for the Las Vegas Raiders was unsealed Tuesday, and Flores’ lawyers say it reads like a checklist of racial stereotypes. The document, prepared by Korn Ferry during one of the Raiders’ recent head coach searches, became public as part of Flores’ ongoing discrimination lawsuit against the NFL, as first reported by Front Office Sports.
What the Memo Said
The memo listed six points in Flores’ favor and seven against. One of the “positives” called him “polished and a good presenter despite growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn.” On the other side, it warned he “can fool you with his polish” and could be “a dictator with players, coaches.”
Flores’ attorney Michael Willemin said that wording frames a Black man being articulate as a surprise, and tied the negative notes to the “angry Black man” trope. Co-counsel Douglas Wigdor said the memo “leans heavily on racial stereotypes.” Korn Ferry fought to keep the document sealed, arguing it was privileged work product, but a magistrate judge rejected that, and the firm did not appeal.
The IAHHM Take
“Despite growing up in Brownsville.” Read that again. Anybody who grew up in a neighborhood like that, or in plenty of neighborhoods across the Carolinas, knows that sentence. It’s the backhanded compliment Black professionals hear their whole careers, and here it is in writing, inside an NFL hiring file.
Flores filed this suit back in February 2022 after the Dolphins fired him. Since then he has rebuilt his name as a defensive coordinator in Minnesota, where the Vikings are sitting at 5-0. The football résumé is not the question. The question is how many qualified coaches got graded on “polish” instead of plays.
The case is now in federal court, with motions to dismiss still pending. Neither the Raiders nor the NFL commented in the Front Office Sports report.
Does this memo change how you see the league’s hiring process, or does it just confirm what you already believed? Let us know.
More from the field: IAHHM Sports.
Source: ClutchPoints, Front Office Sports
