TICATS ADD ART BRILES, UPDATE WITH SCOTT MITCHELL, CFL COMMENTS

HAMILTON – Art Briles, who was fired last year as the head football coach at Baylor in the wake of a sexual assault scandal within his program, has joined the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as an assistant offensive head coach.


June Jones, who replaced Kent Austin as head coach last week, made the announcement Monday. Austin remains with Hamilton as its vice-president of football operations.


Briles, 61, comes to the CFL with over 35 years of coaching experience, including stints as head coach at Houston (2003-07) and Baylor (2008-15). But Baylor’s football program came under fire in 2016 when it was revealed university officials failed to take action following alleged sexual assaults.


A report found the football program under Briles mishandled multiple allegations of sexual assault against players.


After being fired Briles sued the school, but later dropped the suit.


Briles accumulated a 99-65 overall record as an NCAA head coach and was 3-6 in bowl games. He led Baylor to Big 12 championships in 2013 and 2014 and coached the school’s only Heisman winner, quarterback Robert Griffin III.


Hamilton (0-8) is the CFL’s only winless team. Jones will make his Ticats’ head-coaching debut Sept. 4 against the arch-rival Toronto Argonauts at Tim Hortons Field.

Ticats President Scott Mitchell told 3DownNation.com on Monday that they were fully aware of Briles’ history at Baylor and they are intent on offering him a second chance. Mitchell added that the CFL head office was aware of Briles’ hiring before today’s announcement.

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STATEMENT FROM THE CFL:

TORONTO (August 28, 2017) — The Canadian Football League (CFL) has released the following statement:

The Commissioner is in continuing discussions with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats regarding the hiring of Art Briles as a coach. We will have no further comment until those discussions have concluded.

RP
@rodpedersen