Art Briles has returned to coaching with a Division II school.
Eastern New Mexico announced the appointment of Briles as the program’s new head coach on Monday.
It’s the first job for Briles since his firing from Baylor in 2016 following a school review of the handling of multiple sexual assault allegations against football players. An NCAA infractions panel found that Briles “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 was let go with eight years remaining on his contract with the Bears and was paid a $15-million settlement.
At Eastern New Mexico, Briles reunites with athletic director Kevin Fite. Fite previously worked with Briles at Houston where the former was the associate AD and the latter was head coach.
“I am excited to welcome Art to Eastern New Mexico University,” Fite said in a statement. “He is an excellent coach, and I look forward to the future of Greyhound football.”
Briles, 69, had come close to returns to football in previous years, outside of a coaching stint in Italy and some high school work. In 2017, he had been hired as an assistant with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, but the team rescinded the offer after fan backlash and intervention from the league.
“We made a large and serious mistake,” Ticats owner Bob Young said in a statement. “We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League. It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them. We have listened, we are reviewing our decision-making processes and we will learn. We will go on. We want to thank our fans, partners and the CFL for their help and support.”
In February of 2022, Briles was hired to serve as offensive coordinator at Grambling State. The appointment lasted five days with Briles choosing to step away.
“Unfortunately, I feel that my continued presence will be a distraction to you and your team, which is the last thing that I want,” Briles said in a statement. “I have the utmost respect (for) the university, and your players.”
In a combined 13 seasons with the Cougars (2003 to 2007) and Bears (2008 to 2015), Briles posted a record of 99-65 and won three Big 12 Championships.
