Brian Flores Introductory Press Conference – February 4, 2019
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Monday, February 4, 2019
Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross,
General Manager Chris Grier and Head Coach Brian Flores
Stephen Ross:
(Opening Statement) – “Good afternoon. Look at this crowd here. You’d think we won the Super Bowl. (laughter) I’ve never seen so many people in this room before. But really, I’m really thrilled to be here. I think this is really a historic moment in the Miami Dolphin history. I’d first like to welcome and congratulate Brian (Flores) on his great Super Bowl coaching yesterday. It was incredible. You feel good after you see something like that. I’d like to welcome his family to South Florida and hope it’s a long, long stay. As I told you earlier last month when we were going to make a change, that we were going to go in a different direction. It’s about winning, but it’s by looking to the long-term and making those decisions that will make the Miami Dolphins continually be a great football team and very competitive. With that new direction, we set upon looking for a coach that could really take us and lead us in that direction. What we were looking for is a leader and that was probably the most important aspect of what we were looking for as opposed to what we’ve seen a lot of the other teams looking for – offensive-minded coaches – because of the success of (Los Angeles Rams Head Coach) Sean McVay and some of the other great offensive minds. But to me, you start an organization by finding a great leader and I’m really thrilled to say that I believe we have found that leader that can really take us into the future. With that, I’d like to introduce Chris Grier, who is our general manger, who together with (Vice Chairman, President and CEO) Tom Garfinkel, really conducted the coaching search that we did. I’m really thrilled with the job they all did and how we came together. It was an easy consensus in really picking Brian to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.”
Chris Grier:
(Opening Statement) – “Good afternoon. First, echoing what Steve said, I’d like to thank Steve, Tom Garfinkel, (Vice Chairman) Matt Higgins and (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon Shore for their input and time throughout the coaching search. I think we had a very thorough and very intensive process. Brian was the first candidate we interviewed and for him, he did an outstanding job. Again, I’d like to thank those guys for their help, because without them, we wouldn’t be here today. Secondly, I’d like to thank the other candidates that we interviewed. They all did a great job through the process. (I) wish them success in the future except against the Dolphins. (laughter) But today is about Brian. A lot have been written about Brian and I’s relationship. We’ve known each other over the years, but it’s not anything that’s like we were super close. Our times at New England did not cross paths. I got to meet him on the road a few times (when he) was in personnel. Just how he handled himself professionally and worked, (you) could see his work ethic and how he’d done things, so you kind of got an appreciation of him. And then the fact that I worked with some of the people he worked with talked about the type of person and character of what he was. I kind of knew him, so over the years, I’d always kept tabs on him and would check in on him, and then as he moved up the coaching ranks, I got to see him on game days before and we’d chat a little bit. It was really interesting getting to sit down and talk with him, really, about the nuts and bolts about football, who he is as a person and what his core beliefs are. We’re really aligned in our vision for how you build a football team. He worked his way up the ladder. Nothing was given to him. From his upbringing as you guys have all read the story, through Boston College, and then working his way up at New England working under one of the greatest coaches in football and having worked with him (Bill Belichick), I know how challenging and hard that can be and it brings out the best in you and Brian thrived. As Steve said, he demonstrates a lot of the characteristics you look for in a head coach that’s going to be successful in this league and I’m very excited to introduce Brian Flores as the next head coach of the Miami Dolphins.”
Brian Flores:
(Opening Statement) – “Thank you. It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours. I just want to start by first thanking my wife Jenny and our three beautiful kids – Miles and Maxwell and Liliana. Say hi guys. (laughter) Without them … I do all of this for them. Without the support of my wife and my family, this couldn’t be done. I’d also like to thank my parents. My parents, they’re back home in North Attleborough (Massachusetts). My mom – as a lot of you have read – she’s dealing with breast cancer. This would not be possible without the two of them – my mom and my father. They’ve been the rocks for me. My core beliefs, my foundation, started with them and I definitely wouldn’t be here without them. I’d like to thank the Kraft family and Coach Belichick. I was there for 15 years. It was an incredible experience. What a great organization and what a great place for me to learn and grow and just become the best version of myself. I’m very fortunate. I’m humbled by this opportunity and they’ve been incredible to me. My high school head coach is sitting right there. His name is Dino Mangiero. A couple things about him: he’s another person … I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of great mentors, great coaches, a great family, and he’s definitely at the top of that list. I can’t say enough good things about him. Some of the things I preach to my players now, I learned from him. There’s not a lot of fields in Brooklyn, but we found one over there. We found one for us to work on, to play on and get better on. I just want to say thank you to him. As far as this opportunity, I’m humbled; I’m grateful. I wasn’t in a rush to become a head coach. I really wasn’t. I had a good job in New England. I wasn’t in a rush. I talked this over with Jenny and my family. We talked about it, we said, ‘We’re not going to be in a rush. It has got to be the right fit. It has got to be the right place. You have to have the right feel.’ And when I met with Chris (Grier), Steve (Ross), Tom (Garfinkel), Matt (Higgins) and Brandon (Shore), we came out of that and Jenny will tell you, I was excited when I came out of that meeting. That’s where I wanted to be. I’m thankful that I’m a part of this organization now. We’re going to do everything possible to win games and build the culture and build a winner here. I’ll do everything in my power and work as hard as possible to make that happen. So, thank you. This is a great opportunity for me and my family. We’re going to try to make the Dolphins and this community – this is a great community and great fan base – we’re going to try to make you proud. Thank you.”
(What specifically in your meeting with the Dolphins, told you this was the place for you?) – “Chris (Grier) mentioned it. I think our vision and our core beliefs and our core philosophy of how to build a team, they were aligned. That was one of the things for me, going through the process of interviewing. I told every team this – if our beliefs aren’t aligned, then don’t hire me, because if they’re not aligned, then it’s not going to work. If they’re not aligned, it doesn’t work.”
(You’ve held a number of different jobs with the Patriots organization. How do you feel going back to bouncing around both sides of the ball helps you become basically the CEO of the Dolphins?) – “I think when you’re in a leadership position, you’re dealing with all facets of the organization, so those experiences definitely helped me. Whether it was offense, defense, special teams, personnel, driving people around, getting dry cleaning – all of those experiences definitely helped me kind of understand the inner-workings of the organization and how to lead. I would say I really feel like there’s no job that I really haven’t done. I know what other people in the organization are going through. I respect everyone, their jobs and the way they conduct themselves and I think that’s really gone a long way for me.”
(There is a big New England Patriots influence in the front office and on your coaching staff. On your staff, how much of that is by design?) – “From a staff standpoint, obviously we have some guys targeted. We haven’t made any final … We’ll get the final update on the staff when we finalize it, obviously. There are some core values, core beliefs that I will take from New England. I would say the number one thing there is putting the team first. I think that’s organizationally, from an alignment standpoint with what I talked about earlier, that’s very important to me. I’m about being selfless. I learned this a long time ago – it’s hard for two people to trust each other, let alone 11. In order to get that, we have to have guys who put the team first, are selfless and want to work with one another to do what’s best for the outcome of the group. Organizationally, I think that’s where we’re aligned.”
(How much short-term pain do you think the Dolphins have to go through before we see the long-term gain of getting this team where you want and staying there?) – “I would say that every week, we’re going to go out there with the idea that we’re going to win a game. There’s going to be pain involved in that, too. There’s definitely bumps in the road. There’s no doubt about that. In this game, there’s ups, there’s downs. That’s part of this game. That’s part of leadership, dealing with adversity. There will be some pain. We know that. But there’s pain for every team. We had some this year in New England. We overcame them, and I think that’s the kind of attitude and resolve I want to see from a team that I’m coaching.”
(This franchise hasn’t won a playoff game in 18 years. It hasn’t won a Super Bowl in more than four decades. What is your vision in fixing that, and why should Dolphins fans feel confident that you’re the guy who can fix it?) – “You fix that on a day-to-day basis. Everyone tries to improve every day. You take it one day at a time. There is a selflessness and a ‘put the team first’ attitude that you have to have, and that goes from the owner to the general manager to the head coach to the people who clean up at nighttime. If you can get everybody to buy into that, then good things will happen. I believe that.”
(What have you done to celebrate winning the Super Bowl?) – “(laughter) I kissed my wife on the field. We celebrated a little bit last night, then we hopped on the plane and we got here, so it hasn’t been much celebration.”
(Do you feel like you’re getting cheated in a way?) – “No. This is not getting cheated. I do not feel that way at all. That was a great experience, but I guess I’ve always been this way: I look forward. I’m a guy who looks forward.”
(You’re here, so obviously the Dolphins believe you’re ready for this. Why do you believe you’re ready for this?) – “I think I’ve had a lot of experiences in a lot of different areas of football organizations. I feel like I’ve made an impact and my overall philosophy is to help my players, help my coaches, help anyone I’m around become the best version of themselves. I think I’ve done that. I think I want to do that on a grander scale. I think I can do that on a grander scale. Hopefully we get that done here.”
(You executed a very good plan in yesterday’s game. What do you believe is the key to developing a successful plan from game to game?) – “Each game is different. Each opponent is different. Their strengths, their weaknesses are different every week, so every week we’re coming up with a different plan. A lot of that is tied to who you have personnel-wise, what we can do versus what they can do. It could be different every week. I think in this game, you have to be multiple. If you sit in one thing, the coaches are too good. They’ll find a weakness, they’ll take advantage of it. I think that’s the case really across the board – high school, college and specifically in the pro’s. In high school, we were taking advantage of guys … Dino (Mangiero) was taking advantage of guys on the high school level. I think you have to be multiple and we’re going to try to do that.”
(When did the dream of becoming a head coach first materialize?) – “I got asked this question last week. It was 2014, the year we beat Seattle in the Super Bowl. I had taken a step. In everyone’s career, I don’t want to say a lightbulb goes off but I really felt like I was making an impact on that group, the safeties I had at that position. So it was Devin McCourty, Tavon Wilson, Duron Harmon, Nate Ebner and Patrick Chung. Those were the five guys I had in my room. And I could see them developing not only on the field but off the field and their relationships with their families, with their wives and with their kids, and it felt like I was really making an impact. So from a leadership standpoint, the things that I was telling them, the things that I was doing – whether it was drills whether it was the way I talked to them. I’ll say this, I was very demanding with that group; but they knew I cared, they knew I loved them, they knew I respected them. From that point forward, I felt like that formula worked from a leadership standpoint and I stuck with it and I’ll continue to stick with it.”
(You went against the Dolphins for 15 years when you were with the Patriots. What was your assessment of the Dolphins then, and you as an adversary, what was this team missing?) – “I would say this is a hard place to play down here, that’s for sure. I would say that my last memory here wasn’t a great one. (laughter) But you know the teams here, they’ve always been tough, they’ve always been well-coached. I think they’ve got a good group, I think they’ve got great ownership, I think they’ve got a lot of things in place here and I think the future is bright.”
(You talked about the philosophy and if they weren’t aligned, or if the core beliefs weren’t aligned, don’t hire you. What are your core beliefs outside of leadership, outside of selflessness?) – “I don’t think I can stray farther from that. I believe in hard work. I believe in putting the team first. I believe in having people, a group … I believe in team. I would say that. I believe that people have to work together. If you want to strive to do something great as a group, you’ve got to work together. So there is a selflessness in that. There’s a ‘put the team first’ attitude in that and obviously there’s a process and a structure to that as well, and I would say those were aligned from that standpoint. Overall, I can’t stray too far. Those are my core beliefs and that’s where I would go there.”
(You join a franchise that, when you came on, this is a franchise that Stephen Ross says is headed in a new direction. What gives you belief that you will be able to bring a young team up to the standard that your used to coaching?) – “To that question, I would say it would just take me back to my core beliefs. I do believe that if you can get a group of young men to band together, to trust one another, to believe in one another, to practice and prepare at a high level, then you’ll win ball games. Period. I believe that. I think there are some things fundamentally that we are going to want to do as a team. We are going to want to play physical. We are not going to turn the ball over. Those are coaching points you hear every week. Whether it’s a young team, old team, at the core of it, it is about getting 11 guys on the same page, and those guys have to work together. As a coaching staff, you’ve got to get the coaching staff on the same page. You’ve got to get the entire organization on the same page. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. That’s a cliché term but it’s the truth, specifically in football. So if there is a fracture in one place, that could be the difference between getting fourth-and-1 and not getting fourth-and-1. I truly believe that. Hopefully that answers your question.”
(How does it feel for you to be the first Honduran coach in the league?) – “I’m honored by that. My parents immigrated here in the 70s and they came here to build a better life for me, my brothers and my entire family. They did that. They worked hard, extremely hard. We didn’t grow up with a lot but what I did grow up with, and I feel like this is lost in a lot of the stories, is that I had a great childhood. My parents, my uncles, my aunts, we spent a lot of time to where maybe we didn’t have a lot of money, but we were rich in love and that’s for sure. I had a great upbringing and I’m happy to make my parents proud, the people of Honduras proud, the people of Brooklyn, New York, proud, the people of New England proud, and the people I’ve been around my entire life. The mentors, the people who have supported me, I’m always going to do my best and work my hardest to make them proud.”
Chris Grier – February 4, 2019
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Monday, February 4, 2019
General Manager Chris Grier
(There was a report that Head Coach Brian Flores had presented you with like a six or nine month written plan of what he would do as head coach. Was that correct? What sort of details were in there that you would be able to share as far as what his vision was?) – “Yeah. That’s not unusual for any interview. All of the candidates we interviewed all presented their (plan) for how they’d attack the next three months leading up to the draft and then going into training camp and stuff. It was very – as you would expect – detailed and very organized. Again, where he learned and the organization he is coming from. He did a good job but all of the candidates we interviewed presented that.”
(As far as philosophies aligned that Flores mentioned, without getting into state secrets, can you say it’s building the team from the trenches? What general thing can you say that would explain how your philosophies are aligned in team-building?) – “I would say if you think about how I’ve always talked about my upbringing and what I’ve done, he’s started the same way. A lot of that would probably be able to paint the picture for kind of how we both think and think in terms of team-building and what wins in the league.”
(You talked about running multiple defenses and being multiple. How difficult is that to create in terms of a roster that has both concepts of a 3-4 and a 4-3?) – “It’ll be different. It is. It’s a little bit of a challenge because you are always looking for different pieces and parts there. I think the way the NFL is now, a lot of teams bounce back and forth between a 3-4, whether it’s Under or Over (formations). It’ll be a little bit of a project, I guess like you said, in terms of finding those pieces. There are some pieces here. (Flores) said he liked some of our pieces obviously going against us a couple of years, especially some of the offensive pieces he liked a lot. But it will be a process, as he’s talked about.”
(How enjoyable was the Super Bowl from the standpoint of Brian Flores was the guy and the performance they put on?) – “It was. What they did defensively was great. For me, coming from there, they’re our rivals. Let someone else win. (laughter) But I’m very happy for him. He did an outstanding job and their team played – as he talked about – as a team. You can see it with that team in New England this year. They were a team, and that’s why they won.”
(Take us through the actual interview with Brian Flores. At what point were you thinking this is our guy? Was there an exchange that you two had that really stood out to you?) – “Not really. We’ve known each other. Just hearing him talk, we kind of think the same way. I think it was more for everyone else in the room that didn’t know him. When everyone left, they were like ‘Wow, what presence he has,’ in terms of vision and leadership. You kind of go through everything. When we do the background checks on everyone, when you call people around the league and the people he’s worked with and you talk to the players that know him – former players – it was always ‘Wow, this guy’s leadership. He’s a leader of men.’ The presence he has, how he carries himself and how players connect with him and want to play for him, all of that stuff all came through in the interview.”
(Between the announced moves and the moves that have been reported, there does seem to a big Patriots influence here. Is that by design and if so, what is the thinking there?) – “I don’t know if it’s by design. I think (Flores) is just hiring good coaches that he can get, that are available, and that he knows has the same vision and philosophy that he has. Yeah, there’s probably going to be some New England influence but he has people from other organizations as well that are good coaches and can add something to that. You don’t just want all New England. It’s the same thing with scouting. I brought in (Assistant General Manager) Marvin Allen, who was hired, and Marvin started in New England like I did but he’s been with John Dorsey in Kansas City where he was his college director. He’s been in Atlanta. He’s been in Buffalo. Again, adding someone else that can add something to us and maybe, ‘Hey, let’s look at things. Hey, I like how you guys did that.’ I think that’s always helpful.”
(Can characteristics translate from what one franchise to another you think?) – “I think it can. But again, everybody has got to be on the same page, because it’s too hard if I think one way and he thinks another. You’ve got to get everybody to buy in so that we’re all talking the same language. You’re not talking like a DB coach … You’re not talking to someone telling them something different and then you expect that to translate to the field. It’s not going to happen. It was very important for him to find guys that believed in the same things that he believed and teach those core values.”
(As far as what type of job he’s taking, it has been reported the last couple weeks you weren’t going to take a quarterback this year. Is that accurate?) – “No, nothing is out … You can’t say that, because we haven’t even gone through our process of getting to learn the guys yet. There’s a lot of good prospects we spent some time with down at the Senior Bowl and there’s other quarterbacks that weren’t there that people are talking about as well. We’ve just got to go through it and get to know them. We might get through the process and fall in love with a couple guys. Last year, we liked two guys a lot and they both had good success this year. It could be at that point we may say, ‘We feel this is the guy.’”
(Flores is a first time head coach. Based on what has been reported out there, he’s probably going to have first-time coordinator on offense, first-time coordinator on defense. The team is rebuilding. Is this going to require patience?) – “I would say the hard part, and I’ve been here for a while as you guys know … We’ve had twice where we’ve had first-year success where we’ve gone to the playoffs with new head coaches and then the next couple of years it hadn’t worked and we ended up making changes. We want to build this to win long-term. I think we’ve been very calculated in some of the hirings as well. There are some you guys probably know; but once they get finalized, he’ll have veterans guys that have done it as well that will be great people for him to lean on, on the staff, too. I think you should have patience. We want to build this right. We don’t want to go to the playoffs one year and then step back and everyone thinks, ‘Oh, they’re back,’ and then you just keep trying to survive. We want to build this to where this is long-term and you can win for many years instead of trying to go year to year to fill spots to save jobs.”
(Do you think that the early success you had with two coaches that led to playoffs sort of derailed you as an organization?) – “I don’t think derailed. I think it just becomes pressure and expectations. We all knew when we won that there were a lot of holes. You guys all knew that being here. When you win, all the fans are like, ‘Oh, we’re going to win,’ and then the coaches put pressure on themselves and the front office, you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to win and keep this going, this good feeling we have here.’ I’m not saying we did, but maybe you take a chance on somebody instead of building it the right way and things happen. We just want this to be built to win for long term instead of looking short term.”
(It has been reported that the organization will move on from QB Ryan Tannehill. I feel the responsibility to at least ask you is that fair and accurate that the organization will be making a change at the quarterback position?) – “No, I don’t think that’s fair, because Brian (Flores) just got here. You really need whoever is going to be his offensive coordinator and the rest of the offensive staff to get here, which is not finished. Let them sit down and evaluate the roster and look at him, because maybe they say, ‘Hey, he’s got something here that we can work and fix,’ if people think there is something wrong with him. I would say that’s not fair. There have been no decisions made. I’m not making anything … I’m not giving my opinion on the players. I’m letting them watch them so we can get together and talk about what we think.”
(You mentioned building it the right way multiple times in the past couple of press conferences. If you could explain what building it the right way is in your mind?) – “It’s a little bit, like I talked about, of having long-term vision. Again, I’ve never been … The way I grew up there in New England, I’ve never been (wanting to) spend money – huge money – on a guy to come it, because to me, I’d rather have three really good players than one maybe great player who may or may not impact what you’re doing. I’d rather have three good players at positions that are going to help the team win. That’s a little bit of it. But to me … Yeah, you build up your offensive line and defensive line. You start there and then you work. Obviously, you need playmakers that are going to be impact players and stuff. It’s just the way I grew up, how I started and I just really believe those ways are how those teams win.”
(Younger?) – “Yeah. It’s a brutal game. I’m not going to lie. We’ve seen it, and younger bodies bounce back faster. But that being said, there’s a lot of older players that are really good players still in this league. Obviously with the quarterback in New England.”
(On QB Jake Rudock.) – “Jake, we got to know him through Miami day here being he’s a local kid, and we spent some time with him. The thing that we had liked, and the previous staff did as well, is that he was smart. He’s a big kid, can throw the ball and he’s smart. He’s been in a similar offense. Before he signed, I asked him ‘What can you do?’ and I said, ‘I can’t tell you what we’re going to do, because I don’t know what we’re doing (yet).’ Just the fact that he was big, had a good arm and was smart, it was someone we took a chance on. He’s a great kid though.”
