Tua Tagovailoa went viral Monday for his comments about his former head coach, and Brian Flores was able to respond promptly.
The Miami Dolphins quarterback bashed Flores' coaching style highlighting how he didn't feel the former New England Patriots assistant believed in him. Flores was scheduled to speak to reporters at Vikings practice Tuesday, and the Minnesota defensive coordinator took the high road on his former player's comments.
"I’m genuinely happy for his success. I really wish Tua nothing but the best," Flores told reporters, per Jeff Wald of FOX 9 Sports. "Player relationships are very important to me. I think that's kind of the foundation for coaching. I got into coaching because I was impacted as a young guy by my high school coach, my college coach, going all the way to Pop Warner. I got into coaching because I want to make that same kind of impact, positive impact, pour into young people, help them, as (Kevin O'Connell) says, the best version of themselves."
Tagovailoa indirectly called Flores a "terrible person" for the way he was coached, and it offered Flores an opportunity to be self-reflective.
"Look I’m human. That hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive for," Flores said. "But at the same time, I’ve got to use that and say how can I grow from that? How can I be better? 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 someone doesn't say that about Brian Flores?"
The Dolphins and Vikings don't play each other in the regular season, but Flores sounded open to one day mending his relationship with Tagovailoa with each side moving on with their respective situations.
