Art Briles, fired in wake of sex assault scandal at Baylor, added to Ticats staff

HAMILTON – Art Briles, who was fired last year as the head football coach at Baylor in the wake of a sexual assault scandal within his program, has joined the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats as an assistant offensive head coach.

June Jones, who replaced Kent Austin as head coach last week, made the announcement Monday. Austin remains with Hamilton as its vice-president of football operations.

Briles, 61, comes to the CFL with over 35 years of coaching experience, including stints as head coach at Houston (2003-07) and Baylor (2008-15). But Baylor’s football program came under fire in 2016 when it was revealed university officials failed to take action following alleged sexual assaults.

A report found the football program under Briles mishandled multiple allegations of sexual assault against players.

After being fired Briles sued the school, but later dropped the suit.

Briles accumulated a 99-65 overall record as an NCAA head coach and was 3-6 in bowl games. He led Baylor to Big 12 championships in 2013 and 2014 and coached the school’s only Heisman winner, quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Hamilton (0-8) is the CFL’s only winless team. Jones will make his Ticats’ head-coaching debut Sept. 4 against the arch-rival Toronto Argonauts at Tim Hortons Field.