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Former Baylor coach Art Briles to apologize during College GameDay interview

By Brad Berreman

ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 03: head coach Art Briles of the Baylor Bears before a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at AT
ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 03: head coach Art Briles of the Baylor Bears before a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at AT /
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Art Briles lost his job at Baylor as part of the fallout of a sexual assault scandal, and the movement to get him back on the sideline in 2017 has already begun.

The Baylor sexual-assault scandal caused major fallout at the school, punctuated by the dismissal of football coach Art Briles. He took a tour of NFL training camps this year to help fill time, and perhaps lay the ground work for a future opportunity, but on Wednesday things turned up a notch.

Early Wednesday evening, a Waco (Texas) television station released an investigative report poking holes in the report that led to the dismissal of Briles and university higher-ups Ken Starr and Ian McCaw. Soon after, ESPN promoted Tom Rinaldi’s interview with Briles that’s set to air during College GameDay Saturday morning.

Here’s a sample of what Briles said to Rinaldi.

"“I made mistakes. I did wrong, but I’m not doing this trying to make myself feel better for apologizing,” Briles told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. “I understand I made some mistakes. There was some bad things that went on under my watch. I was the captain of this ship. The captain of the ship goes down with it.“So, I understand that I made some mistakes, and for that I’m sorry. But I’m not trying to plead for people’s sympathy. I’m just stating that, ‘Hey, I made some mistakes. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna do better.”"

The Waco station’s report suggests the investigation into sexual assault at Baylor had some foregone conclusions, and possibly lacked evidence to support the veracity of it. There’s typically two sides to these kind of things, with attendant agendas being pushed from myriad angles. But Briles still comes off very poorly in his interview with Rinaldi, based on the clip that has been released, including using the strained cliché of a captain going down with his ship.

Related Story: Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones vouches for Art Briles

Briles previously told reporters he plans to coach in 2017. Last Friday he hired super agent Jimmy Sexton, whose clients in the college coaching ranks include Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher. Add in the two stories on Wednesday, and the effort to get Briles back on the sideline is moving fast.

Purely as a football coach, Briles deserves another opportunity. But on the college level a head coach has to be far more than that, including a setting standard for how players should act off the field. Briles failed by that measure at Baylor, and no flimsy, self-serving apology on ESPN will change that.

The full interview Briles did with Rinaldi will air on College GameDay, which starts at 9 a.m ET Saturday morning.

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