GRAMBLING, La. — It’s been about six years since Art Briles has been on the collegiate gridiron after being fired as head coach of Baylor University in Waco. But, he’s returning to the game in a new role — Grambling State University’s offensive coordinator.

What You Need To Know

  • Following the departure of Ted Scott, Grambling State University has hired Art Briles to be its offensive coordinator

  • It's been six years since Briles, fired as Baylor University's head coach, coached college football 

  • Briles was fired following allegations of covering up multiple sexual assault accusations and was later cleared of any NCAA violations 

“I think the guy just wants to coach and lead men,” Grambling State University Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Trayvean Scott told ESPN regarding his support for Briles despite his storied history. “We’re not talking about a perfect situation or devaluing things done in the past and how it has affected people. He’s sympathetic and empathetic about what went on.”

Scott noted it took about 10 days of research before deciding about hiring Briles. Baylor ousted the former head coach after an internal investigation into Baylor University’s handling of multiple sexual assault accusations, which included players on the football team. However, in 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association cleared Briles of any NCAA violations. But, in its 51-page report, the infractions committee was critical of his actions or lack thereof.

“In each instance, when the head coach received information from a staff member regarding potential criminal conduct by a football student-athlete, he did not report the information and did not personally look any further into the matter,” the panel said. “His incurious attitude toward potential criminal conduct by his student-athletes was deeply troubling to the panel.”

The panel said that Briles left much to be expected of someone in a leadership role on campus through its investigation.

"As one panel member observed at the hearing when questioning the head coach’s lack of response to this information, ‘a lot of these things that we’re talking about, they’re not NCAA rules violations ... (or) university policy violations," the panel said. “They’re felonies. (w) e’re talking about rapes and physical assaults,” according to the report. “the head coach failed to meet even the most basic expectations of how a person should react to the kind of conduct at issue in this case. Furthermore, as a campus leader, the head coach is held to an even higher standard. He completely failed to meet this standard.”

Briles joins the GSU Tigers, a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, just months after new head coach, Hue Jackson, was announced to lead the G-Men. Before Jackson came to Grambling, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Tennessee State University. His experience includes not only collegiate football, but also professional jobs with the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins.

Briles will replace Ted Scott, who left to become the offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans. From 2019 to 2020, Briles coached at Mount Vernon High School in Mt. Vernon, Texas. Prior to that, in 2018, he led an American football team in Italy. Following the news of Briles’ hiring Thursday afternoon, many took to social media to voice their disappointment of Coach Jackson’s decision.

“Got a lot of respect for Coach Hue Jackson, but this is a terrible hire,” said former ESPN SportsCenter anchor and current The Atlantic contributing writer Jemele Hill via Twitter.

In an exclusive interview with a local news outlet, Briles will discuss his new position.