Marvin Lewis suggests he had 'sham' interview with Panthers in 2002

Part of the class action lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores on Tuesday alleges the New York Giants had already decided last month to hire ex-Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll before they interviewed Flores and that they only completed that meeting to comply with the Rooney Rule, which mandates that clubs interview outside minority candidates for openings at head-coach positions. 

Marvin Lewis famously served as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals from 2003 through 2018. As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk explained, however, Lewis told ESPN's "First Take" on Wednesday that he was set to interview with the Carolina Panthers when he was an assistant with the Baltimore Ravens in 2002, but media reports emerged that franchise was hiring John Fox. According to Lewis, then-Panthers owner Jerry Richardson denied the claim and welcomed Lewis to town for an interview the coach suggested was only for show. 

"I did interview with the Carolina Panthers before John Fox got the job," Lewis said Wednesday, according to Madeline Coleman of SI.com. "And I can recall that we had lost to the Steelers in the second round of the playoffs and I remember sitting at home on Monday and, I think it was Chris Mortensen or someone else, they reported that Foxy would be named the head coach of the Panthers on Friday.

"And when I went to work Tuesday, Brian [Billick] came in, said, 'I just got off the phone with Ozzie [Newsome] and the Panthers want you to come down and interview for the job.' I said, 'Coach, I just heard last night on TV that they’re gonna name Foxy the coach on Friday.' So he goes back, he talks to Ozzie, he talks to their people, and I end up going down to Charlotte and meeting with the Richardson family and they said that wasn’t true and so forth. And they named John the head coach on Friday."