The door may have been left open a crack for a possible return by Art Briles to be the head coach at Baylor in 2017, but that does not mean the currently suspended coach is not fuming over his work status.
Briles, who has admitted to making mistakes as the head coach at Baylor, responded to a federal lawsuit filed against him and Baylor by a woman who was raped by a Baylor football player. Briles filed for a motion in court on Thursday to say he wants the judge to assign him new legal counsel and is demanding Baylor turn over all files in the sexual assault scandal investigation recently compiled that led to his suspension en route to a likely termination. In a letter filed with his motion, the Associated Press reports Briles states he “does not wish to settle the case.”
Legally speaking, Briles remains indefinitely suspended by Baylor with the intention of having his contract terminated. This is essentially a way to allow for time to work out the legalities of a termination and sort through various contract terms before doing so. Still, there is a suggestion there are some boosters who would like to work out a deal where Briles serves a one-year suspension and then returns to coach the football program in 2017.
The Briles and Baylor mess continues to unfold, and it is certainly not going to get any prettier any time too soon. As this process plays out, it will likely only get uglier. If Briles is convinced he was wrongfully terminated, he should have no problem unloading a plethora of information to back up his story, which would not be good for Baylor moving forward. Of course, if Briles is brushing back, Baylor may be forced to share some more dirty laundry it has on their now former head coach. And if that turns out to be the case, we can probably completely forget about any possibility of Briles coming back to coach in Waco in 2017, even if that was a reach in the first place.
