Art Briles Gets Hired in the CFL and Fired by the CFL in One Day
Art Briles, coach fired in U.S. rape scandal, won’t join Ticats after outrage /via @globeandmail https://t.co/UHb5HBbA1l
— CRCVC (@CRCVC) August 29, 2017
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Globe and Mail – After a single day of condemnation on many fronts, Art Briles, a former Baylor University head coach who was fired in the wake of a sexual assault scandal, will not take up a position with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Earlier Monday, the Ticats said in a release that Mr. Briles would be joining the club as an assistant coach.
But by late Monday night, the Canadian Football League and the Ticats said in a statement: “Art Briles will no longer be joining the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a coach. We came to this decision this evening following a lengthy discussion between the league and the Hamilton organization. We wish Mr. Briles all the best in his future endeavours.” …
The hiring was difficult to square with the league’s desire to be viewed as progressive. Two seasons ago, it created a policy to address violence against women, working in partnership with the Ending Violence Association of Canada. More recently, it responded to the racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., with its “Diversity Is Strength” campaign.
And earlier this season it promoted people of all genders, races and religions playing, watching and working in football with its “Bring It In” campaign.
At least one Ticats sponsor had spoken out, and the decision was largely condemned on social media.
Nice attempt, Tiger-Cats. You gave it your best shot. And how can you know whether or not you can hire a coach who recruited the biggest collection of serial rapists since Genghis Khan until you try? In the words of Michael Scott, “‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.’ – Wayne Gretzky.”
I’m sure the Ticats were hoping they could slip this one under everyone’s radar. That in a nation largely made up of beaver dams and caribou herds, where everyone is too busy sawing ice-fishing holes to even have a fourth down, that no one would notice they’d hired a monster like Art Briles. But it seems like Canadians are a little funny when it comes to a guy who coached 31 players charged with 52 rapes, including five gang rapes involving as many as 10 guys at once. And as nice as they are, the good people of Canadia don’t take kindly to a guy who, upon hearing that a bunch of his players had just sexually assaulted a coed said “Those guys are dangerous. Why was she hanging around with them?” and then went back to scheming cut blocks and misdirections. And when that coach’s son recruited prospects by asking if they like white women because Baylor has lots of them and they love football players, CFL fans don’t want that guy around. Go figure.
And you’ve got to appreciate the irony of a guy who protected the careers of his rapey players now losing two jobs over it, with no one willing to protect him. And let’s face it, there aren’t too many job prospects left once you’re fired in the CFL. For coaches, that is the last job you take. The bottom rung of the employment ladder. The job you take when all your other possibilities have dried up and they’re about to cut off all your utilities. It’s the football equivalent of doing cold calls at a telemarketing firm. And if you can’t make it there because you enabled violent, gang raping sexual predators, sitting at home collecting welfare might be your only option. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.