Flores: Tua's words hit hard, but I have evolved

EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores took a conciliatory tone Tuesday toward Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, a day after the publication of an interview in which Tagovailoa called Flores a “terrible person.”

“I’m genuinely, genuinely happy for the success that Tua has had,” Flores said, “and I really wish him nothing but the best.”

Flores was the Dolphins’ head coach for Tagovailoa’s first two seasons in Miami from 2020 to ’21. He was fired in January 2022 amid speculation that his relationship with Tagovailoa was strained.

In an interview that took place last week with “The Dan LeBatard Show,” an excerpt of which was aired Monday, Tagovailoa compared Flores’ coaching style with that of current coach Mike McDaniel. “If you woke up every morning and I told you [that] you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong doing what you do, that you shouldn’t be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven’t earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, ‘Dude, you are the best fit for this,'” he said in the interview. “How would it make you feel listening to one or the other…”

Flores responded Tuesday by speaking about Tagovailoa for much of a previously scheduled news conference that lasted nearly 17 minutes. Vikings safety Josh Metellus and defensive lineman Harrison Phillips flanked Flores as he began speaking, a show of support that Flores said, “meant a lot.”

His voice shaking at times, Flores seemed to acknowledge that his coaching style might not have hit well with some players in Miami and indicated he has worked to improve over the ensuing three seasons.

“I think part of coaching is correcting,” Flores said. “I’m always going to correct. I’m always going to have a high standard. And I think, look, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on the situation, reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there’s things that I could do better for sure, and I’ve grown in that way, and I’ve tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I’ve learned over the last two, three years.

“But I would say over the long haul, I’ve had a lot of great relationships over my 21-year career here in the league. Players, coaches, personnel, equipment, people in the kitchen. I mean really across the board, I’ve had a lot of great relationships. I’m going to continue to do that, but I’m also always looking to get better and involved.”

In his interview, Tagovailoa said that having a “terrible person telling you things that you don’t want to hear or probably shouldn’t be hearing” will eventually lead to a person starting to believe those things.

“Look, I’m human,” Flores said in response. “So that hit me in a way that wasn’t … positive for me. But at the same time, I’ve got to use that and say, ‘Hey, how can I grow from that? How can I be better?’ And that’s really where I’m at from that standpoint. Do I feel like that’s me? No. But how can I grow from that situation and create a world where that’s not the case that anyone says that about Brian Flores?”

It’s unclear when Flores and Tagovailoa last spoke. Flores said he has thought about reaching out to Tagovailoa to help both of them move on from their time together in Miami. The Vikings and Dolphins don’t meet in the regular season.

“Maybe if that time arises or is available, I’m certainly open to that,” he said. “But I got a lot of other things going on too, as he does. And again, I’m just really focused on the guys here and the work that we’re putting in here.”

Ultimately, Flores said, he got into coaching to make the same impact on young people as the coaches he played for had on him as a youth in Pop Warner through his time at Boston College.

“I want to make that same kind of impact, positive impact, pour into young people,” he said, “helping them become as [Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell says] all the time, the best versions of themselves. And that’s really my goal, always at coaching. So, I wish nothing but the best to Tua and really more than anything, I’m just focused on the 2024 Vikings and the players we have.”

Speaking after practice Tuesday, Phillips admitted that he was initially “a little more reluctant or on edge” when Flores replaced Ed Donatell as the Vikings’ defensive coordinator after the 2022 season. Donatell’s approach had been “relationship-driven,” Phillips said. When Flores arrived, Phillips said, “I didn’t [know] if that was going to be replicated or if he’d have those same passions outside of football.”

As it turned out, Flores soon invited the entire defense to his new Minnesota home to meet his family, socialize and eat.

“A statement that we always joke around with is, ‘You can’t have unique results without unique relationships,'” Phillips said. “And he’s done a really great job of developing those unique relationships where you have a Stanford kid from Nebraska sitting on the bus next to an inner city kid from Louisiana. We’re buddies because of the defense that coach Flores has and the unique relationships that he has created between us.”

Phillips said it was Metellus’ idea to flank Flores at the start of his news conference.

“We just love him, man,” Metellus said. “He’s been great to us. I know everybody else has their own opinion, but as long as he’s been a Viking, he’s been good to the team.”