The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hired Art Briles on Monday as an assistant head coach of offense, and then quickly reversed its decision just hours later amid growing controversy and reaction on social media.
On Tuesday morning, Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young released a statement apologizing for hiring the former Baylor coach.
"We made a large and serious mistake," Young said in the 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."
Statement from @CaretakerBob on behalf of the @Ticats: https://t.co/fKeXbG1gsR pic.twitter.com/e5pZmxLN2V
— Hamilton Tiger-Cats (@Ticats) August 29, 2017
The CFL league office played a role in the decision, releasing a statement on Monday night announcing that Briles will not be joining the Tiger-Cats staff.
“Art Briles will no longer be joining the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a coach," read a statement on the CFL website. "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.”
Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell took to Sportsnet 590's The Jeff Blair Show on Tuesday morning to issue his apologies, saying he didn't expect the backlash they received from the United States.
“I think what was underestimated was the vitriol that would come out of the States, which I think created a lot of the momentum behind this, for good reason,” Mitchell said. “We had to acknowledge the mistake that it just wasn’t going to work. There is no moral highground on an issue like this, second chance or otherwise.”
He said that they wanted to give Briles a second-chance after reviewing information that is "not what's available to the public." He said that he sees now this was misguided "because it's clearly not acceptable," and "it's not the right time, it's not the right place."
“There’s the truth about what went on and there’s what is out there in the media,” Mitchell said. “I think, probably, we got far too wrapped up in what we understand happened, we understand is going to happen. We felt he deserved a second opportunity and I think, clearly that’s unacceptable to society today, it’s unacceptable to the media that have taken on the issue. I think anything related to domestic violence is, for good reason, so toxic that regardless of what limited or extreme level someone may have had in it, it’s just totally unacceptable to the public that somebody is going to be allowed to work based on that experience right now.”
The league had announced earlier Monday that CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie was involved with talks with the Hamilton front office regarding the controversial hiring. Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young confirmed Ambrosie's role in the final decision, stating on his personal Twitter account that the team was saved from a "major blunder" by the commissioner.
@CFL's @RandyAmbrosie saved the @Ticats from a major blunder today. Longer mea culpa coming tomorrow.
— Bob Young (@CaretakerBob) August 29, 2017
MORE: Twitter reacts to Briles hiring by Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Briles was fired by Baylor in May 2016 after a sexual assault scandal rocked the university. ESPN reported that Briles and his assistants "actively intervened" in school disciplinary measures against football players accused of a variety of offenses.
The 61-year-old has denied the accusations, but until Monday he had not found another job after being fired by Baylor.
Briles' hiring came on the heels of former University of Hawaii and SMU coach June Jones being promoted to Tiger-Cats' head coach last week.
Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell said the team engaged in a "long deliberation" before hiring Briles, and that the CFL was aware of Hamilton's interest in the coach prior to Monday.
"The history is that June Jones and Art Briles have known each other for decades and June was very forthright about what the situation was and the more we contemplated it, deliberated over it – and obviously I spoke to [Ti-Cats owner] Bob Young about it as well – we just thought it was a very serious situation but we also felt that after talking to dozens of people, people we trust, people we admire, that Art Briles a is a good man that was caught in a very bad situation," Mitchell told The Hamilton Spectator. "Clearly, some serious mistakes were made along the way but we feel strongly that people deserve second chances and that's what we've decided to do with Art Briles."