Southern Miss won’t hire former Baylor football coach Art Briles.
Briles, who left Baylor when the program was engulfed in a sexual misconduct scandal, interviewed for a spot with the team as the offensive coordinator, but it’s not going to happen. (RELATED: Former Baylor Head Coach Art Briles Interviewing For OC Position At Southern Miss)
The school released the following statement Wednesday after the meeting:
We have met with Art Briles regarding a position with the Southern Miss football program. Following that meeting, we informed him that he is not a candidate. The University will have no further comment on this matter.
Southern Miss statement: “We have met with Art Briles regarding a position with the Southern Miss football program. Following that meeting, we informed him that he is not a candidate. The University will have no further comment on this matter.”
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 6, 2019
Well, this shouldn’t be too shocking to anybody. While Briles was never proved to be at fault for anything that happened at Baylor, he left a program that was surrounded by allegations of sexual misconduct by its players.
That’s a black mark that’s not going to be going away anytime soon. Is Briles a very talented coach? Absolutely, but the outrage of hiring him probably outweighs any benefits he brings at the moment.
Hell, he’s even too toxic for the CFL. If the CFL won’t touch him, what makes you think a D1 college football program would.
Maybe he’ll get another shot at some point down the road, but it’s just not going to happen right now. That seems pretty evident.
It’ll be interesting to see if Briles ever coaches on any significant level ever again. Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t.