Flores goes from Pats’ win to Dolphins
DAVIE, Florida — When Brian Flores was asked how he celebrated winning the Super Bowl, he paused for several seconds and laughed.
“I kissed my wife on the field,” Flores said.
Then it was on to the next challenge, and a big one — fixing the Miami Dolphins. Flores, the New England Patriots’ linebackers coach and defensive play-caller, was hired Monday as Miami’s head coach.
He accepted the job hours after helping the Patriots shut down the high-scoring Los Angeles Rams for a 13-3 victory in the title game Sunday night in Atlanta.
“It has been a whirlwind 24 hours,” Flores said with a smile at a news conference that drew two dozen cameras.
“Looking at this crowd here, you’d think we won the Super Bowl,” Miami owner Stephen Ross said. “I’ve never seen this many people in this room . ... To me, you start an organization by signing a great leader. I believe we’ve found that leader.”
Flores was the first person the Dolphins interviewed after they fired coach Adam Gase on Dec. 31. They decided on Jan. 11 to offer the job to Flores but had to wait until New England’s season ended to complete an agreement.
“I wasn’t in a rush to become a head coach,” said Flores, 37. “I had a good job in New England.”
Flores said the job with the Patriots’ longtime AFC East foil was appealing because he shared a vision with general manager Chris Grier on how to build a winner.
While preparing for the Super Bowl, Flores also began to hire a Miami staff. The group is expected to include former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell as assistant head coach, Patriots receivers coach Chad O’Shea as offensive co-ordinator and Packers assistant Patrick Graham as defensive co-ordinator.
The son of Honduran immigrants, Flores grew up in Brooklyn and has spent his entire coaching career with the Patriots. He joined them in 2004 and became their defensive co-ordinator a year ago after Matt Patricia left to join the Lions as their head coach.
Flores is the ninth former assistant to Bill Belichick to become a head coach.
“I think he’ll be awesome,” Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty said. “But he’s in the division, so I told him he can’t win too many games.”
Flores becomes the NFL’s fourth minority head coach for 2019, which is half the total of last season. Diversity advocates have questioned the effectiveness of the Rooney Rule requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any head coach or general manager vacancy.