Former Dolphins HC Brian Flores: Relationship with QB Tua Tagovailoa 'wasn't strained'

When the Miami Dolphins fired former head coach Brian Flores last month, it put the wheels in motion for what has been a dramatic few weeks surrounding the 40-year-old. Despite his less-than-ideal exit from South Beach, Flores apparently had a fine relationship with the team's franchise quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa.

Flores appears on the next "I Am Athlete" podcast -- which comes out on Monday -- and in a trailer for it, he refutes reports that he had a strained relationship with the lefty signal-caller.

"This is an interesting topic, because it wasn't strained. We had a good relationship. It was a player-coach relationship. And I think in a relationship like that, you know, the coach challenges the player. And oftentimes the player challenges the coach. And I think there was a great deal of respect between the two of us," he said. "So you hear these crazy kind of -- this narrative that’s out there. But this is a young man who works, who developed and got better over two years and, you know, I think he’s got, you know, a bright future. I wish him all the best. ... So the world can think what it wants to think. I think -- ask Tua, you know? I’m here to say what I gotta say, and you can ask him. So, I think he’d say the same thing."

Flores filed a class action lawsuit against the NFL and its 32 teams in late January, alleging that racial discrimination led to his termination from the Dolphins and kept him from being considered for the New York Giants' job.

In his three seasons at the helm in Miami, the team went 24-25 and failed to make the postseason each year. He was fired on Jan. 10 after a second straight winning campaign, as the Dolphins finished the year by winning eight of its final nine to wrap up a 9-8 overall campaign.