Briles to take over 3A program
Mount Vernon hires coach fired in Baylor sex assault scandal
Three years after being fired at Baylor in the wake of the football program’s sexual assault scandal, former Bears coach Art Briles has resurfaced in the Texas high school ranks.
Mount Vernon Independent School District announced Briles’ hiring Friday evening as the new head football coach at Mount Vernon High School.
Mount Vernon is a Class 3A school in Franklin County in northeast Texas, 66 miles north of Tyler.
“We are pleased to welcome Coach Briles back home to Texas,” Mount Vernon superintendent Jason McCullough said in a statement on the school district’s website. “He brings with him a wealth of not only football experience but also life experience. He is passionate about investing in the lives
of young people and helping them to succeed both on the field and in life. After a thorough due diligence process and several earnest conversations, we believe our students will benefit greatly from his skills and experience.”
“High school football is a Texas institution,” Briles said in the school district’s statement. “As a coach, it’s my first love. You’ll make no bigger impact in this world than when you shape the lives of young people — one practice, one game, and one life at a time. I am excited to be coaching at Mount Vernon this fall.”
Baylor fired Briles in May 2016 during the sexual assault scandal at the country’s largest Baptist university. The school’s investigation conducted by the Pepper Hamilton law firm said the school and the athletics department created a “cultural perception that football was above the rules.
“In certain instances, including reports of a sexual assault by multiple football players, athletics and football personnel affirmatively chose not to report sexual violence and dating violence to an appropriate administrator outside of athletics,” the report said. “In those instances, football coaches or staff met directly with a complainant and/ or a parent of a complainant and did not report the misconduct.”
Briles most recently coached Estra Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Federation of American Football this spring.
Southern Mississippi announced in February that it would not consider Briles for a coaching position. Before that, Briles was an assistant coach with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League before a backlash caused the franchise to cut ties with him.
Briles has strong ties to Texas high school football, having been an assistant at Sundown and Sweetwater and head coach at Hamlin, Georgetown and Stephenville.
He hasn’t coached at the high school level since 1999. Briles was the running backs coach at Texas Tech from 2000 to 2002 and head coach at Houston from 2003 to 2007 before taking the Baylor job.