While they didn’t exactly announce it, Grambling made it official in naming Art Briles as their new offensive coordinator on Thursday. The news set off a chain reaction of disappointment and anger that the man in charge of the program with one of the worst sexual assault scandals in college sports history was able to get back into a role in charge of student-athletes just six years later. That Grambling tried to minimize the blowback against his hiring made things even worse.
The school did not hold a press conference to introduce Briles. Instead, the football coach appeared in a sit-down interview with KTAL Sports reporter Sam Rothman where the 66-year-old answered questions about his time with Baylor, what he’s learned (if anything), and how he will handle things differently with Grambling.
While the entire interview offers a glimpse into the ways Briles appears to be attempting to move on from the scandal in any way possible, one answer, in particular, seemed to catch the attention of the college football world.
New @GSU_TIGERS Offensive Coordinator Art Briles on Baylor's 2016 sexual assault scandal: "You know, you report what you know. We did the best we felt at the time. Apparently, it wasn't good enough."
FULL INTERVIEW: https://t.co/I80K8UeEqp pic.twitter.com/1FwNhX15qA
— KTAL Sports (@KtalSports) February 25, 2022
There is a reason it has been some time since you last coached college football,” said Rothman. “After being fired from Baylor back in 2016 amid a campus-wide sexual assault investigation., the NCAA did not find you guilty of any NCAA violations. However, the investigation did find that you failed to report sexual misconduct among your players. What is your response to that?”
“Well, fortunately, the NCAA didn’t find any violations and Baylor’s general counsel did completely exonerate me and the rest of our staff also,” said Briles. “It’s sad that it was a campus-wide situation. There were no, we actually didn’t get a Title IX person until the fall of 2015. So, reporting policies and procedures were not as available as they should have been for a variety of students on campus. You know, you report what you know, we did the best we felt at the time. Apparently, it wasn’t good enough, it wasn’t good enough. And you know, I’m sorry for anybody that suffered any consequences because of it.”
Briles’ answer is frustrating for a number of reasons. One, he refuses to take responsibility for what happened in any meaningful way. Two, he and his staff were not “exonerated,” implying they were without fault, which is not true. Third, his use of “apparently” is just gross.
Plenty of people had strong reactions to the clip of Briles’ comments about what happened at Baylor.
The man should be nowhere near a college campus https://t.co/inv5vYHoY5
— Josh Schrock (@Schrock_And_Awe) February 25, 2022
This is who some of you are caping for while telling Doug Williams to shut up and remember his place https://t.co/rG44u8a8rI
— David Steele (@David_C_Steele) February 25, 2022
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) February 25, 2022
The Art Briles interview on local KTAL is up. Nothing all that new. Briles says the same kinds of things he’s always said about Baylor. https://t.co/yWIBAk9Efn pic.twitter.com/MfAnK9HaOw
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) February 25, 2022
Grambling is surely hoping that the negativity surrounding Briles will boil over soon. Perhaps it will, given everything going on in the world. But it remains to be seen if this is the kind of solution that will sit well with Tigers players, their fans, and the college football world.
[KTAL]
