
Tua Tagovailoa recently opened up about his experience under former head coach Brian Flores, now the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings.
Tagovailoa, the quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, wasn’t kind about it either. He trashed Flores as a “terrible person” who constantly denigrated him during his time with the team.
Flores famously filed a lawsuit alleging “racism” after he was fired by the Dolphins. During his time as head coach, he posted a record of 24-25.
Tagovailoa’s comments erupted during an interview on the “Dan Le Batard Show.”
“If you woke up every morning and I told you, you sucked 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, you haven’t earned this right,” Tagovailoa said.
“Then you have someone else come in and say, ‘Dude, you’re the best fit for this, you are accurate, you’re the best whatever, you are this, you are that.’ How would it make you feel listening to one or the other? You see what I am saying?”
Tua Tagovailoa Blasts Former Coach As ‘Terrible Person’
In the midst of his tirade, Tua Tagovailoa contrasted his former coach’s demeaning style with that of current Dolphins coach, Mike McDaniel.
“You hear it, regardless of what it is the good or the bad,” Tagovailoa said. “You hear it more and more you start to actually believe that.”
“I don’t care who you are. You can be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person telling you things you don’t want to hear or things you shouldn’t be hearing, you are going to start to believe that about yourself.”
Flores and the Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa with the No. 5 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
But the negativity was so rampant early on, according to the Pro Bowl quarterback, that it took two seasons to change the attitude in the locker room. Not just with him, but all of the other players Flores allegedly affected.
“If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong, that you shouldn’t be here, that you haven’t earned this…
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 19, 2024
and then someone come and tells you, ‘You are the best fit for this…How you that make you feel?”
– @Tua describes the… pic.twitter.com/bBHI6IsVlj
Flores Is Doing Fine In Minnesota
I don’t know man. Maybe it speaks more to Tua Tagovailoa’s fragility than anything else. Which, in all fairness, is something Flores should pick up on in order to be a good coach. Some people are motivated by the putdowns. Others need to be coddled.
But McDaniel has some rough edges as well. Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill indicated he got torched by his coach after a playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last season.
Hill recalled one particular play when a defender dropped him during the game.
“He like, ‘Reek, bro, you’re supposed to be the […] best player in the […] league, and you got this guy putting hands all over you like that. We pay you all this money for what?'” McDaniel reportedly said.
Hill didn’t cry about it.
He took the criticism like a man and insisted he’ll be using it as fuel to inspire his play going forward.
“And for me, I love […] like that. I’m gonna take that […] to heart and I’m gonna get better from it,” he said. “That’ll never happen again to me in my life, man. You feel me?”
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell has defended Flores over the comments.
“I can just tell you I know that the players Flo works with, he’s got great relationships here. He really has,” O’Connell said.
“I know [reporters covering the team] have heard a lot of them talk about how much they enjoy playing for him, and how much I enjoy working with him every day, and that’s all I can really comment on, and I’d just like to leave it at that.”
Flores had moved on and it’s clear Tua Tagovailoa is flourishing under McDaniel’s tutelage. Everybody was good. Why he felt the need to suddenly trash his old coach publicly is anybody’s guess.
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