Briles defends his record in Baylor scandal
Former football coach denies covering up or condoning sexual misconduct by players
Former Baylor football coach Art Briles delivered his most detailed defense of his now-tainted record at the embattled Baptist university, saying he never knowingly played a studentathlete alleged to have committed sexual assault and that he did not cover up or condone sexual violence or domestic assault.
Briles’ statement was in the form of a one-page letter, addressed “Dear Baylor Nation,” and came one day after the Texas Rangers opened a preliminary probe into Baylor’s handling of sexual assault reports involving students. It also came one month to the day after Briles dropped a libel lawsuit against three members of the Baylor board of regents that fired him last year.
Also last month, regents filed court documents alleging Briles and his former assistants intervened in disciplinary actions against football players and tried to keep criminal allegations against them under wraps.
But the former coach had remained silent in recent weeks until Thursday’s letter, which said he was moved to speak out because of “an onslaught of information coming out in the press that is inaccurate, misleading and unfair to Baylor,” its students, faculty, administration and athletic programs.
“Let me be clear,” Briles, 61, wrote. “I did not cover up any
sexual violence. I had no contact with anyone that claimed to be a victim of sexual or domestic assault. … I did not obstruct justice on campus or off. When I was alerted that there might have been an assault, my response was clear: the alleged victim should go to the police report it, and it should be prosecuted.”
He also said he “never knowingly played anyone with a sexual assault allegation” and that it was “tragic” that any Baylor student had been harmed “physically, sexually, emotionally or spiritually.”
Transparency sought
Briles also cited what he described as “rumor, innuendo and out of context messages, emails and comments” in the wake of an investigation last year that concluded Baylor fostered a “culture of sexual violence” that included 17 cases in which women reported being sexually assaulted by 19 football players since 2011.
The results of that investigation by the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton resulted in Briles’ firing in May 2016 by Baylor regents. Regents also demoted Baylor president Kenneth Starr, who subsequently resigned, and sanctioned athletic director Ian McCaw, who also resigned.
“The key to growth for the school begins with full transparency, not selective messaging,” Briles wrote. “… I hope and pray that at some point, those feeding this disinformation will stop and full disclosure rather than messaging misdirection will take place.”
In that context, Briles’ letter mirrors the talking points of Bears for Leadership Reform, an alumni group that has been critical of regents and has called for “total transparency” about information received as part of the Pepper Hamilton investigation.
Much of his six-paragraph letter reads as a thank-you note for his eight seasons at Baylor, which were among the most productive in the school’s history on the field.
It also is a valedictory of sorts, calling on Baylor students to “be smart and live right,” for athletes to “show discipline and morality on and off the field,” for administrators to “work to make the best improvements” and for regents to “remember the importance of thorough investigations with full transparency.”
He also said he would “gladly volunteer time and energy” in support of reforms at Baylor to provide a “protective environment” for students.
Briles’ attorney, Ernest Cannon of Stephenville, told Waco television station KWTX the letter “was totally Art Briles’ idea and his words and his feelings. He wanted to communicate to Baylor fans and the university what they meant to him and how much he misses them.”
Two of Briles’ former players have been convicted of sexual assault, and a third faces charges. The former coach is a defendant in one of six Title IX lawsuits lodged against Baylor, and the school is being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and by the NCAA.
Baylor officials declined to comment on the letter.
Victims’ lawyers scoff
Lawyers for two women suing Baylor were dismissive of Briles’ letter.
“It’s hard to take any of Baylor’s former coaches seriously at this point,” John Clune, attorney for a woman who is suing Baylor under the pseudonym Elizabeth Doe, told the Associated Press. “We’re going to find out for ourselves what happened and who deserves further consequences.”
Irwin Zalkin, attorney for Jasmin Hernandez, who was sexually assaulted by football player Tevin Elliott, told the Associated Press that Briles would have to be “deaf, blind and dumb” to have not known about previous allegations involving Elliott, who is serving 20 years for two counts of assault.