On Wednesday, Baylor hired Matt Rhule to be the new head coach of the football program. All seemed good and dandy as the university and football program turned one page and looked forward to the next chapter. That was short-lived. A handful of leaders at the university were sued on Thursday by former head football coach Art Briles for libel and slander.
Briles, who was fired amid controversy stemming from an investigation into how Baylor officials handled and responded to accusations of physical and sexual assault by football players, has filed a lawsuit accusing three regents and a vice president of conspiring against him and making it impossible for him to find a new coaching job. Briles is also seeking for damages related to emotional distress as he believes his coaching career may have come to an end as a result of the actions of Baylor Board of Regents Chairman Ronald Murff, board members J. Cary Gray and David Harper as well as Baylor Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Reagan Ramsower.
“Some people think themselves above the law, but the laws of Texas establish accountability for everyone, even renegade, self-dealing regents of a Christian university,” the lawsuit from Briles says. “These defendants have been relentless in their false attacks upon Coach Briles in the media despite his repeated requests they cease and retract their onslaught of untruths.”
At this point, as hard as Baylor may try to move forward, Briles is not going away quietly. And with Briles filing this lawsuit, things may only get uglier in this ongoing saga in Waco. From a legal standpoint, Briles making such a claim would possibly suggest Briles has some dirty laundry the university may not want to get out. On the flip side, Briles needs to be very confident in how this might turn out, because it could be just as ugly against him if the university goes all in in attempting to defend their handling of Briles. As Frank Underwood says in the acclaimed Netflix series, House of Cards,” Don’t ever start a war you know you’re going to lose.”
Either Briles is going down and taking the university with him, or he is lobbying for a potential settlement in hopes the university wants to keep hush and move on without prolonging this any further.
