Baylor dismissed coach Art Briles in 2016 in the aftermath of a widespread sexual assault scandal that rocked both the football program and university as a whole. Now, we know what Baylor paid Briles in order to sever ties and begin the long process of moving forward.
Per records obtained by the Dallas Morning News, Baylor's 990 filing to the IRS showed that the university paid Briles $15.1 million. That money, used from the school's institutional reserves, also includes buyouts for former president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw. Starr was reportedly paid $4.52 million while McCaw, now at Liberty University, received just north of $760,000.
The amount of Briles' settlement is certainly noteworthy, but it's also less than half of the some $39 million the former Baylor coach had remaining on his contract at the time of his firing. Briles previously had a libel lawsuit against Baylor, but that was dropped in early 2017.
Briles has not returned to coaching in a full-time manner, though he was briefly hired to be an assistant for the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League. Amidst intense and immediate backlash, the organization pulled a 180 and did not hire Briles.
Briles unceremoniously exited Baylor with a 65-37 record in Waco.
