The central allegation in the Flores lawsuit is that the Rooney Rule leads teams to conduct sham interviews. of minority candidates.
Enter the Jags chase of Coen and you find this:
"As explained by Albert Breer of SI.com, the Jaguars needed to interview one more minority candidate in person — Patrick Graham — in order to comply with the Rooney Rule. Writes Breer: "[T]he Jags didn’t want word of their plans getting out, which could cause Graham to cancel.”
While it’s not known whether Graham would have canceled if he’d known Coen remained in play, Breer’s implication is that the Jaguars hoped to keep the ongoing recruitment of Coen a secret to ensure that Graham wouldn’t refuse to submit to an in-person interview. If he had, the Jaguars would have had to delay the hiring of Coen until after the Jaguars conducted an in-person interview with another minority candidate.
The only other minority candidate who conducted a virtual interview with the Jaguars was Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Given that he has active litigation against the league regarding its minority hiring practices, checking the last box with Flores would have opened an entirely different can of worms, for the team and the league."
I would like to see Gruden become the HC with Flores as the DC, or the other way around and have them go on to win the Superbowl and have all the incriminating e-mails come out at the same time. That would be awesome. Are you listening, Jerry Jones?
