Good news for all of the Art Briles apologists still out there — the former Baylor head coach has been hired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) as Assistant Head Coach Offense.
In a press release announcing the hire, the Tiger-Cats boasted about Briles’ 35 years of head coaching experience, back-to-back Big 12 Championships at Baylor, and 2014 Big 12 Coach of the Year honor.
But the team conveniently left out the fact that Briles was fired from Baylor last May after an internal investigation found that the university repeatedly mishandled rape allegations, most of which came against football players during Briles’ tenure
It’s hard to adequately sum up the scope of the egregious, inexcusable failure by Briles and other Baylor administrators and coaches to properly deal with sexual assault allegations. Between 2011 and 2014, there were at least 52 alleged acts of rape—including five gang rapes—by at least 31 different football players at Baylor, according to reports. Two of those gang rapes allegedly involved 10 or more players, and some of them were recorded. A former Title IX investigator at Baylor said the football program was responsible for nearly one-third of the sexual assault cases that were reported to her office, despite the fact that the football program made up less than one percent of Baylor’s student population.
“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,” reads a press release summarizing the takeaways from Baylor’s independent investigation into the expansive rape scandal. “In some cases, football coaches and staff had inappropriate involvement in disciplinary and criminal matters or engaged in improper conduct that reinforced an overall perception that football was above the rules, and that there was no culture of accountability for misconduct.”
Earlier this year, a new Title IX lawsuit against Baylor — which alleged brutal gang rapes and dog fighting at Baylor football parties — specifically called out Briles for his inaction.
In the latest suit, filed by a Jane Doe who is a former Baylor volleyball player, the victim recounts how she was harassed and robbed by Baylor football players after telling an assistant football coach that the players had allegedly brutally gang raped her. After the burglary, she met in person with Briles, who completely disregarded her claims, according to the lawsuit.
If the Baylor football player gang rape allegations weren't enough … pic.twitter.com/QGYpgkSCKa
— Paula Lavigne (@pinepaula) May 17, 2017
Doe continued to be harassed by the football players, and eventually reported the assault to her women’s volleyball coach, who proceeded to meet with Briles and give him a list of the players involved.
Briles allegedly looked at the list of names and said, “those are some bad dudes … why was she around those guys?”
But sure, Briles did win 60.4 percent of his games as a NCAA Division 1-A head coach, according to the press release by the Tiger-Cats. Apparently that’s all that matters.
UPDATE (8/29/17): Well, that didn’t last long.
Monday afternoon, Tiger-Cats CEO Scott defended the decision to hire Briles, saying that the former Baylor coach was a “good man that was caught in a very bad situation.” However, after less than 12 hours of intense backlash, the Ticats and the CFL announced on Monday night that Briles will no longer be joining the team.
Good on the CFL and @RandyAmbrosie. pic.twitter.com/gMGqtteyDA
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) August 29, 2017