Brian Flores plans to coach again — soon.

He’ll be working with his son’s 7-on-7 Broward-based flag football team in the coming weeks, using the game he loves to guide young men the same way coaches assisted him as a kid, helping him use football as his escape from the poverty and despair he saw growing up in the projects of Brownsville, Brooklyn.

As far as the NFL, Flores, who was fired by the Miami Dolphins after producing a 24-25 record in three seasons, is prepared to never coach at the highest level of the game.

He hopes that’s not the case, but knew that could potentially be a reality after filing a lawsuit against the NFL, accusing the league of being “rife with racism, particularly when it comes to the hiring and retention of Black head coaches, coordinators and general managers.”

There is, however, a good chance he will become the Colin Kaepernick of the coaching world.

But if change comes, and generations of aspiring Black coaches and executives benefit from it, then, he said, the sacrifice was worth it.

“I know coaching is what I was born to do, but this was my calling in life,” Flores said, referring to his lawsuit, which he hopes eludes arbitration for the sake of transparency. “If I never coach again, but there’s a significant change, it’ll be worth it.”

During an interview with the I Am Athlete podcast, which I participated in, Flores said pulling back the curtain on how some minorities in the NFL are treated was more important than his personal career goals and his paycheck, which he hasn’t received yet from the Dolphins because he refused to sign a release forfeiting his legal rights to sue.

The release, which was presented to him when he was fired last month, would have kept Flores from saying anything disparaging against the Dolphins in exchange for the $6 million he’s owed on the five-year contract he signed.

According to Flores, he’d rather keep his integrity than fill his bank account, pointing out he survived on his $20,000 a year salary when he got his big break as a scouting assistant two decades ago with the New England Patriots.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t,” Flores said when asked about his decision to file the lawsuit while still being considered for the Houston Texans and New Orleans Saints head coach openings, jobs he didn’t get.

The most important points Flores made during his sit down with I Am Athlete, which airs on Monday, focus on Miami’s “tanking” efforts in 2019. Flores said tanking was never discussed during his interview process with the Dolphins. And if it had been, he likely wouldn’t have taken the job.

In the lawsuit and subsequent interviews, Flores alleges that Dolphins owner Steve Ross offered to pay him $100,000 for every loss at the end of the 2019 season, to potentially improve Miami’s draft standing. He refused because: “I respect the game too much to do that.”

While many of the moves the franchise made that season — trading Laremy Tunsil, Kenny Stills, Kiko Alonso and Minkah Fitzpatrick, releasing a number of veterans to clear cap space and starting players claimed off waivers or signed off another team’s practice squad after three days of practice — seemingly aligned with an organization’s attempts to tank, Flores said he viewed those personnel decisions as “a challenge.”

His theory is that his defiance ruined his relationship with Ross, general manager Chris Grier and CEO Tom Garfinkel.

The NFL plans to investigate his claims.

During last week’s Super Bowl news conference, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the league has a serious problem when it comes its hiring practices and admits the Rooney Rule isn’t working. Flores points out that the root of the problem is that all 32 owners acknowledge that there’s an issue, but would all claim they aren’t prejudice and don’t feel they are part of the problem.

Flores said an oversight committee is needed when it comes to hiring coaches and executives and a process that monitors and evaluates the hiring process must be put in place to prevent “sham” interviews he felt he participated in during 2019 and 2022.

The biggest point of contention I had during our discussion was when Flores addressed his relationship with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who led Miami to a 13-8 record during his two-year tenure as a starter.

“Interesting topic, because it wasn’t strained,” Flores said. “We had a good relationship. It was a player-coach relationship. In a relationship like that, the coach challenges the player. And oftentimes the player challenges the coach. I think there was a great deal of respect between the two of us.

“You hear this crazy narrative out there. This is a young man who works, developed and got better over two years. I think he has a bright future and a I wish him all the best. The world can think what it wants to think. Ask Tua. I’m here to say what I got to say, and you can ask him. I think he’d say the same thing.”

According to team sources, Tagovailoa and Flores had a heated exchange during last month’s 34-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans, which derailed Miami’s push to advance to the playoffs.

That was one of Tagovailoa’s worst games and, according to a source, Tagovailoa told Flores that he needs to learn how to communicate better with people.

That was a consistent complaint about Flores and a recurring theme for most of Bill Belichick’s assistants. It’s an issue Flores didn’t shy away from addressing during our conversation. He acknowledged that he’s direct and firm.

Nevertheless, he said his relationships with most of Miami’s staff was good. During the interview, he said he routinely gave $100 bills to team employees after wins.

Flores also pointed out that being stern and holding players and coaches accountable is usually not viewed as a bad thing when it comes from a head coach trying to change the culture of a franchise.

He did just that, delivering the franchise’s first back-to-back winning season since 2002-03. But uncomfortable relationships and the inability to work collaboratively with people in power cost him his job.

“The game has done too much for me for me to disrespect it,” Flores said.

But some believe Flores wielded too much power during his tenure.

The Dolphins’ monthlong hiring process, which ended with naming Mike McDaniel as Flores’ replacement, hints the organization wanted someone they could control.

Flores would have never been that person, which is at the root of why he was let go.