Team denies discrimination allegation, link to GM firing

Former Texans security coordinator Jeff Pope has filed a discrimination lawsuit with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission against the team.

The Texans have denied his allegation.

Pope was dismissed by the Texans on May 8. He was hired in 2017.

“We have just been made aware of Mr. Pope’s claim,” the Texans said in a statement. “We do not comment on pending litigation. The Houston Texans do not tolerate personal or professional discrimination of any kind.”

The Texans fired general manager Brian Gaine on Friday and emphasized that Gaine’s dismissal is unrelated to Pope’s complaint.

“This claim by Mr. Pope was not a factor in the recent decision to relieve Brian Gaine from his job as general manager,” Texans spokeswoman Amy Palcic said.

A former Bethune-Cookman football player, Pope was responsible for assisting in club security under director of security Brent Naccara.

“My client was terminated; we are alleging it was clearly on the basis of race by Mr. Gaine, who was recently terminated by the Texans,” said N. Lucy Chukwurah, Pope’s attorney. “My client was offered a severance. He came to me about negotiating and asked if he should sign it. I found there was more there. I wondered why he was being offered a severance. We discussed what his options were and filed the EEOC discrimination complaint. Prior to doing so, we got in contact with the Texans about negotiating and at least giving him a severance package; that’s fair. They declined to engage in that process.

“I was going to handle this the way I handle most of my claims: quietly. When the Texans terminated Mr. Gaine, that caught my attention. They terminated him a few days after they spoke with their counsel. I found that to be unusual.”

A former University of Houston football recruiting intern and a Rice athletic ticket sales employee, Pope lists himself as a volunteer with the NAACP since March and a volunteer with the Fritz Pollard Alliance since January.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance promotes diversity in NFL hiring practices.

“It’s unfortunate that my client is out of a job that he really wanted to continue,” Chukwurah said. “He is currently unemployed.”