Hamilton Tiger-Cats hire former Baylor coach Art Briles

Former Baylor head coach Art Briles was hired by Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as assistant head coach.

Former Baylor Bears head coach Art Briles turned around one of the worst programs in the Big 12. However, after a sexual assault scandal involving many football players, Baylor fired Briles following the 2015 season. Following the scandal, Briles was unable to get another college coaching job. The Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced Briles was hired as their assistant head coach offense.

The Tiger-Cats started the season 0-8, leading to head coach Kent Austin resigning. Former Hawaii head coach June Jones took over for Austin as head coach. In his introductory press conference, Jones mentioned that he would like to hire another offensive coach. Briles and Jones will be responsible for improving the CFL’s worst offense. Briles first game with Hamilton will be on Labor Day when the Tiger-Cats host their biggest regular season game against their biggest rival the Toronto Argonauts.

While at Baylor, Briles won back-to-back Big 12 championships in 2013 and 2014. In eight seasons at the school, Briles went 65-37 and went to six bowl games. In his college head coaching career, the 61-year-old Briles has a 99-65 record. However, in May 2016, an independent investigation found that the football coaches and administration initiated their own improper investigations surrounding sexual assaults. The independent investigation revealed that some cases at Baylor were not reported to the proper authorities.

The CFL has made a strong stance against letting players with domestic violence charges play in the league. Former Saskatchewan Roughriders player Justin Cox was released by the team after he was charged with domestic violence. Former Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge announced the league would not allow another team to sign Cox despite him being found not guilty. However, Orridge was replaced by Randy Ambrosie on June 27. It is unknown what stance the league will take with Hamilton for hiring Briles.

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Briles’ former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is on Hamilton’s negotiation list. If Griffin indicates he wants to sign with a CFL team, Hamilton has exclusive rights to sign the former Heisman Trophy winner.