We don’t need to pour over the ugly details of the Baylor sexual assault scandal that brought the program to it’s knees. Disgraced head coach Art Briles was removed from the program, and after several attempts to get back into football, it appeared he’d ridden off into the sunset.
Not so fast. Briles is still lurking in the shadows down at Florida Atlanta University.
New head coach Lane Kiffin recently brought Kendal Briles into the fold, and appears to be conversing with Art Briles at least semi-regularly.
A report published on Deadspin suggests that Briles is acting in an unofficial advisor role to Kiffin and Briles-the-younger.
“Obviously, he has ideas,” Kendal said. “He wants to know personnel and different guys and making sure we’re getting those guys in the right spots and getting them touches and all that stuff. He’s a football coach, that’s all he’s ever been. He’s definitely involved and we talk daily.”
Kendal said he’s sent film to Art before to help with the FAU offense. On Monday, Kiffin said he’s spoken with Art a couple times.
“Obviously, he’s done unbelievable things on offense,” Kiffin said. “It’s his system that he started years and years ago. Every once in a while, I’ll text or call him and bounce something off of him.”
While it’s difficult to argue that Art Briles is anything short of a fantastic football coach, other things have to come into play. Despite protests every step of the way, it appears that Briles wasn’t the patsy or scapegoat he wanted everyone to think he was.
Kiffin appears to be in the early phases of building an impressive program at Florida Atlantic. This is the kind of relationship that could derail that very quickly.
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