Art Briles reveals he initially accepted Texas job in 2014: ‘I would have left Baylor 100%’
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Art Briles was almost named Texas football‘s head coach after the Longhorns fired Mack Brown in 2013. At least, that’s what the former Baylor coach said on Wednesday.
Briles revealed this piece of information while speaking with Brett McMurphy of On3Sports. According to Briles, he was set to take the Texas job on a 6-year deal but changed his mind following the Bears’ Fiesta Bowl loss to Blake Bortles and UCF.
Here’s what he had to say:
“I mean I was there. If we’d won our bowl game, I would have left Baylor 100%,” Briles told On3 Sports. “It was done for me because I’m a (state of) Texas guy and Kendal played there. So, it made sense.”
Briles has spent most of his coaching career in the Lone Star State. Born in Rule, Texas — isolated in Central Texas between Lubbock and Fort Worth — Briles started his career at the Texas high school ranks, coaching high school for 20 years before landing at Texas Tech as a running backs coach.
He accepted the head coaching job at Houston in 2003 and moved to Baylor in 2008, where he compiled a 65-37 record before being fired after it was determined he and members of his staff did not adequately address sexual assault allegations against players.
Since being fired by Baylor in 2016, Briles has worked in the Italian Football League and most recently at Eastern New Mexico.
Ethan Stone is a Saturday Down South News Editor and an advocate for the return of the Seattle Supersonics.
