Grambling State hires former Baylor coach Art Briles as offensive coordinator

Briles was fired by Baylor in May perhaps 2016 following an exterior investigation into accusations of sexual assault observed school and soccer administrators failed to sufficiently handle those allegations.

A report by legislation firm Pepper Hamilton uncovered that “in some instances, the College failed to get motion to establish and eliminate a prospective hostile ecosystem, avert its recurrence or address its outcomes.” The report observed that 17 females claimed incidents of sexual assault or sexual violence involving 19 soccer gamers and that Briles was educated of at least one particular of them but unsuccessful to report it to local authorities, as did other administrators.

Briles denied that he was associated in a coverup at Baylor.

“Let me be distinct: I did not protect up any sexual violence,” he wrote in an open up letter in 2017. “I experienced no make contact with with anybody that claimed to be a sufferer of sexual or domestic assault. Any individual properly-versed in my operate as a mentor understands that I strove to boost excellence, but under no circumstances at the sacrifice of basic safety for anybody.”

Previous Grambling star quarterback Doug Williams, who went on to the NFL and led Washington to victory in Tremendous Bowl XXII, declaring MVP honors, claimed he was let down by the employ. Williams, now specific adviser to Commanders President Jason Wright, reported he spoke to Grambling Athletic Director Trayveon Scott a few situations and the system realized wherever he stood on the choosing.

“I never know Art Briles I have in no way achieved him in my daily life,” said Williams, who also experienced two stints as Grambling’s coach. “But the condition, no person else would hire him for whatsoever explanation. I never know why Grambling State had to go be the one to hire him, so I’m not a admirer at all.”

Asked no matter whether he would go on to aid the system, Williams stated: “Oh, no. I simply cannot do that. No, no, no. If I help them, I condone it.”

“I’m rooted in simple fact,” Scott advised ESPN on Thursday. “I know a whole lot of items are reported and carried out. We felt it [was appropriate] to give [Briles] a prospect to really redeem himself following understanding where by the specifics lie.”

In August, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions claimed it could not conclude that Baylor violated NCAA principles with its steps regarding the sexual assault allegations, but it place the school on 4 a long time of probation for other violations that occurred amongst 2011 and 2016, including recruiting infractions and impermissible added benefits supplied to a participant.

Briles, 66, compiled a 65-37 history above 8 seasons at Baylor and led the software to two Big 12 championships. In 2017, he was just about named an assistant mentor for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Soccer League just before the league stepped in and the workforce reversed class. Southern Mississippi viewed as him to be its offensive coordinator in 2019 in advance of university directors overruled the move soon after community backlash.

Soon after expending a calendar year coaching in Italy, Briles was hired by Mount Vernon Higher in Texas, serving as its head coach in 2019 and 2020. At the time of Briles’s hiring, the superintendent of the Mount Vernon Independent Faculty District claimed he experienced been vetted, but that system didn’t incorporate talking to any of the victims at Baylor or to NCAA officers.

Jackson and Briles have some record — Jackson introduced Briles in as a visitor to support the Browns’ offensive coaching workers in 2016, a few months soon after he was fired by Baylor.