Art Briles Rips Baylor, Claims He Was Scapegoat For University's Failings

Art Briles is now ready to open up about his firing through his attorney, and the 60-year-old took the opportunity to rip Baylor. Briles believes he was wrongfully terminated and claims he will not settle a federal lawsuit filed against him by a woman who was raped by one of his football players.

In a letter to Baylor’s attorneys, Briles’ personal attorney, Ernest Cannon targeted the school. He claims Baylor’s administration used the former football coach as the scapegoat for its failures in handling allegations of sexual assault.

Cannon claims, “The conclusion is inescapable that the motive of Baylor and the Board of Regents was to use its head football coach and the Baylor athletics department as a camouflage to disguise and distract from its institutional failure to comply” with federal civil rights protections.

Cannon also demanded that Baylor turn over the contents of every litigation file related to the sexual assault cases.

Briles was named as a co-defendant in a lawsuit filed in March by former Baylor student Jasmin Hernandez. Hernandez was raped in 2010 by fomer Bears football player Tevin Elliott, who was later convicted and sent to prison. The lawsuit claims Baylor knew Elliott had a history of assaults and failed to protect her and other students from him.

Baylor is pursuing a settlement with Hernandez, but Cannon claims Briles has no interest in settling the lawsuit.

As more allegations in the Baylor scandal become public, the inescapably conclusion is that Briles was absolutely complicit here. At the very least he enabled his players by not adequately punishing those who violated rules and, in some cases, laws.

The idea that Briles did “nothing wrong” and the fact that he is claiming ignorance would be laughable, if it didn’t make me so freaking angry.