Former Baylor coach Art Briles’ career at the Division I level essentially ended after he was fired in 2016 following a massive sexual assault scandal involving the program. But Briles almost left the school in 2014 for Texas, sparking an interesting what-if scenario.
Briles told On3 on Wednesday, Aug. 19, that he agreed to become the Longhorns‘ next coach before Baylor’s Fiesta Bowl loss to UCF in 2014, but ultimately decided to return to Baylor after the loss. He said Texas officials were set to fly to Phoenix the following morning to finalize the contract before he opted out.
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“I mean I was there,” Briles told On3’s Brett McMurphy. “If we’d won our bowl game, I would have left Baylor 100%. It was done for me because I’m a (state of) Texas guy and (my son) Kendal played there. So it made sense.”
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On3 added Texas offered Briles a six-year deal to replace Mack Brown, who had resigned after the 2013 season. Baylor then lost to UCF 52-42 after Blake Bortles threw for over 300 yards with three touchdowns, resulting in Briles decided to stay.
Then-Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw, who resigned from the school after the sexual assault scandal and is now the athletic director at Liberty, told On3 he was surprised Briles turned down the offer.
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“Texas was the best job in college football and Art was a native Texan,” McCaw said. “They put on the full court press. For him to turn down more money and more prestige to continue to build the program, he showed his loyalty. Not a lot of people would do that.”
Briles, one of the most-successful coaches in college football of the 2010s, led Baylor to four top-15 ranked finishes in eight seasons at the helm. He started his head coaching career at Houston, where he ended his stint with 10-win and 8-win seasons, respectively, before being hired at Baylor.
Briles is still connected to high-major college football. His son, Kendal Briles, is the offensive coordinator at South Carolina, and his son-in-law, Jeff Lebby, is the head coach at Mississippi State. Both coaches were former Baylor assistants under Briles.
Texas underwent multiple years of coaching uncertainty after Brown’s resignation, with Charlie Strong and Tom Herman failing to get the program back on rack from 2014-16 and 2017-2020, respectively.
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The 70-year-old coach took his first job outside of the state of Texas in 2018 when he took over at Guelfi Firenze, a team in the Italian Football League. He nearly rose from the high school ranks all the way to Texas, the largest public school in the state.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Art Briles nearly left Baylor to coach at Texas in 2014, per report
