When news broke this morning that Baylor would fire head football coach Art Briles, I dashed off a quick post about whether he would have a future in the NFL. A few minutes later, Baylor posted a statement about the investigation that led to Briles’ firing.
Having now read that statement, here’s what I think about Briles’ coaching future: Briles should have no coaching future.
Baylor’s statement suggests that women who were sexually assaulted by football players were discouraged from reporting those assaults, and in at least one case a woman actually faced retaliation for reporting an assault.
“There are significant concerns about the tone and culture within Baylor’s football program as it relates to accountability for all forms of student athlete misconduct,” Baylor’s statement reads.
That ultimately falls on Briles. Major college football programs are essentially dictatorships in which the head coach outranks even the college president and athletic director, and if there’s a pattern of sexual assault and a refusal to hold football players accountable for sexual assaults, that falls on the head football coach. Briles was a highly successful coach and well respected offensive innovator, but that will not be his legacy at Baylor. His legacy will be the damning statement Baylor released today that made it clear that Briles cared more about winning than about the safety of Baylor students who were victimized by his players.
The football world should treat Briles as a pariah.
