Art Briles's possible return draws anger from alleged victim's family
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On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Baylor said that the board of regents discussed the possibility of bringing back coach Art Briles after a one-year suspension, but did not vote on the topic. However, the fact that the issue was even discussed was upsetting to at least one family member of an alleged victim, according to Fox Sports.
The idea of bringing back Briles has been supported by a small group of boosters, along with former board chairman Gale Galloway.
Briles was suspended with the intent to fire after the Pepper Hamilton lawfirm released a report detailing the administration and athletic department’s failure in handling sexual assault cases, especially involving football players.
A male family member of an alleged victim said that he wasn’t completely shocked that the board would reconsider firing Briles.
“I’m surprised they haven’t (shot it down) because it's a place in crisis mode, and they're trying to recover their image,” he said. “But then again, I’m not really that surprised because obviously this type of thing has been their method of action all along. We were led to believe one thing that was happening, when it wasn’t. It’s actually very similar to how they handled things before (in their case).
“This is a very dirty place that we’ve seen has been very conniving and low down. It’s hard to fathom because not only is this a university, but it’s a Christian university.”
Along with Briles, president Ken Starr was reassigned to a chancellor role, which he eventually resigned from, and athletic director Ian McCaw resigned from his position.
Former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe has been hired as interim coach, with most of Briles coaching staff staying intact.
