Baylor interim president 'caught off guard' by talk of potential Art Briles' return
Baylor interim president David Garland downplayed any speculation that Monday's regents meeting was about suspended coach Art Briles
•
2 min read
Update: While Baylor's interim president, David Garland, downplayed speculation that the school's regents were voting on the future of Art Briles during Monday's meeting, a school spokeswoman outright denied the reports in an official statement on Tuesday.
While Baylor's official statement is that "a variety of matters" were discussed at Monday's regents meeting, the spokeswoman contradicted an earlier report in telling the Dallas Morning News that "no vote was taken" Monday by regents on "employment status of Art Briles."
Baylor spokeswoman emails that no vote was taken Monday by regents on "employment status of Art Briles."
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) June 14, 2016
Original Story: Will Art Briles return as Baylor's coach? Technically, that's still to be determined, but the university's interim president, David Garland, said Monday's regents meeting -- in which they would reportedly consider a one-year suspension and return for Bries as opposed to a dismissal -- was not even about the suspended coach.
"I was really caught off guard by all this," Garland said of the reports, via WFAA.com. "The meeting was scheduled before, and for a quite different issue."
Over the course of Sunday night and Monday morning, multiple outlets reported Baylor's brass was considering a one-year suspension for Briles, who was suspended with "intent to terminate" in wake of the Pepper Hamilton report. Officially, Briles has not been fired. However, Dan Wolken of USA Today added that the voices in favor of reinstating Briles were "few in number at this point and considered to be on the margins."
Garland admitted that some have reached out to him about allowing Briles to return, but he stressed that "other factors [outside of football] have to be taken into consideration."
Though Briles was dismissed, the rest of the Bears' coaching staff has remained intact with former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe assuming the responsibilities of acting coach. Regardless of what Briles did or didn't do, knew or didn't know, bringing him back now would be an absolute public relations nightmare at best and at worst a full-blown acknowledgement that the school hasn't learned a thing from the Hamilton report and still places football above the safety of its students.
While the school released a Findings of Fact from the Hamilton report, it did not release, nor does it plan to release, the report itself.
"What we are releasing are reports of findings where we fell short. But we can't give the details of individual stories ... We don't want to re-victimize, or re-traumatize the survivors," Garland reiterated to WFAA, adding that people would be able to identify victims, even if their information was redacted, because Waco was a "small community."
Last week, the university adopted two primary task forces to handle more than 100 recommendations from the Hamilton report.
"My goal is that we become a model for the rest of the country, of how to address these issues," Garland said. "This is not an institution of football. It is an institution of higher education, and we happen to play football. Our major mission is to educate students. That's what we want the focus to be on. And also to protect the safety of our students."
If Baylor wants to prove as much, one of the many, many things it needs to do is stand by its decision to move on from its most prominent figure.
