Don’t forget Ross’ past
Fins owner should be praised for hiring black coaches, but stance on kneeling protests is a scar
Bill Belichick has never been a man of many words.
So when he does give in-depth answers, people tend to listen.
During his Super Bowl LIII postgame press conference, Belichick gushed about Brian Flores, the former New England defensive coordinator and new head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
“Brian called a great game as he has all year. He’s done a tremendous job for me,” Belichick said. “In the time that he’s been with this organization he’s worn I don’t know how many different hats. Scouting, quality control, special teams, defense, safeties, linebackers, defensive coordinator. He’s done a lot of things and done them all well.”
In Flores’ final two games with the Patriots he put together consecutive defensive schemes that held the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams, the two best offenses in the league, scoreless in the first half, as the Rams only scored three points in the Super Bowl after averaging 32.9 for the season.
As far as Belichick is concerned, the Dolphins got exactly the right man for the job.
“We’re all extremely happy for him personally,” he said, “but really appreciative of what he did on a professional level to help our football team. He put in a lot of extra time and effort, and we all appreciate that. He’s a tremendous person and a tremendous guy.”
According to reports, Flores signed a five-year deal with the Dolphins, and he’s the only one of the eight new head coaches that were recently hired to get a fully guaranteed five-year deal.
The move by the Dolphins also means that Flores joins Mike Tomlin (Steelers), Ron Rivera (Panthers), and Anthony Lynn (Chargers) as the only minority head coaches in the league.
With Chris Grier, a black man, serving as the Dolphins general manager, and the additions of former Colts and Lions head coach Jim Caldwell as assistant head coach, and Packers assistant Patrick Graham as defensive coordinator, two more black men, it feels like the Dolphins are singlehandedly trying to address the lack of minority leadership in the NFL.
“That triangle right there, we’ve never seen as far as African-Americans ever before in the NFL,” said Cris Carter on Tuesday morning’s edition of “First Things First” on FS1.
However, before Black America begins to celebrate this historic moment, there is a reason to pause given the man that is behind all of this, team owner Stephen Ross.
Ross has been a habitual hypocrite.
Last March, Ross told the Daily News that “all of our players will be standing” when the conversations around peaceful protests that took place during the national anthem were at their peak.
Days later, he then tried to backtrack.
“I have no intention of forcing our players to stand during the anthem, and I regret that my comments have been misconstrued,’’ Ross said in a statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“I’ve shared my opinion with all our players: I’m passionate about the cause of social justice and I feel that kneeling is an ineffective tactic that alienates more people than it enlists.”
“I know our players care about the military and law enforcement too because I’ve seen the same players who are fighting for social justice engaging positively with law enforcement and the military. I care passionately that the message of social justice resonates far and wide, and I will continue to support and fund efforts for those who fight for equality for all.”
At the beginning of that very season, Ross was supporting players on his roster like Julius Thomas, Kenny Stills and Michael Thomas who took a knee.
“Initially, I totally supported the players in what they were doing,” said Ross. “It’s America and people should be able to really speak about their choices.”
He then quickly changed his mind after Donald Trump said he felt like it was disrespecting the military.
“When that message changed, and everybody was interpreting it as that was the reason, then I was against kneeling,” said Ross. “I like Donald (Trump). I don’t support everything that he says. Overall, I think he was trying to make a point, and his message became what kneeling was all about. From that standpoint, that is the way the public is interpreting it. So, I think that’s really incumbent upon us to adopt that. That’s how, I think, the country now is interpreting the kneeling issue.”
And if there wasn’t enough information to make one give Ross a side-eye for his statements about social issues that affect African-Americans, last year Ross was honored by the Jackie Robinson Foundation with its ROBIE Lifetime Achievement Award for being a “longtime champion of equal opportunity.”
This is the part where I remind you that Robinson didn’t rock with the national anthem.
“I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world,” wrote the man who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Back in 2015, Ross created the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). The nonprofit is “dedicated” to improving race relations through collegiate and professional sports-based initiatives. RISE has been Ross’ claim to fame as an advocate for people of color.
But just last summer, the Dolphins included national anthem protests under “contract detrimental to the team” that could potentially lead to a four-game suspension. Ross then released a statement saying that language was a “placeholder” until the league resolved the issue of anthem protests, and that the team had not actually decided on any specific course of action.
In the past I have characterized Ross as a two-faced conartist who says whatever he needs to in order to please the people around him in whatever room he’s spewing his propaganda. And I believe that he openly masquerades in public as a person who cares about race relations in this country.
However, on this day, I need to give Ross credit for doing something that no other owner has ever done in terms of minority hiring.
Ross has put four black men in power on what may be the blackest staff in professional football history.
His actions should be celebrated.
But that doesn’t mean that his past should be forgotten, either.
The foursome of Grier, Flores, Caldwell and Graham should practice cautious optimism in their time in Miami.
Not because they aren’t qualified to do the job. But because their boss has a history of pretending to be something he’s not.