Robert Griffin III appreciates Art Briles receiving 'second chance' with Texas high school

Tom Gatto

Robert Griffin III appreciates Art Briles receiving 'second chance' with Texas high school image

One of Art Briles' most successful players at Baylor is hopeful the disgraced former Bears coach can earn redemption as he returns to coaching high school football in Texas.

Robert Griffin III, who won the 2011 Heisman Trophy while running Briles' offense in Waco, tweeted his support Friday after Mount Vernon High School announced Briles as its new head coach.  

Briles has been unable to land a job in college football since Baylor fired him in May 2016 after an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual assault against Bears players. He has been coaching a team in Italy and was overseas Friday when Mount Vernon introduced him via Skype as coach.

MORE: Briles talks about coaching in Italy, Baylor tenure

The investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm found 17 instances of sexual assault or domestic violence involving 19 players from 2011-16, Baylor regents told The Wall Street Journal. A former Baylor graduate student claimed in a 2017 lawsuit that 31 Bears players committed at least 52 rapes. The student claimed she was a victim of assault by a player.

Two former Baylor players, Tevin Elliot and Sam Ukwuachu, were convicted in 2014 and 2015, respectively, after separate trials. A third former player, Shawn Oakman, was acquitted of sexual assault last February.

The NCAA is investigating the Baylor football program during Briles' tenure.

Briles has denied knowledge of what has been alleged. He also denied that he and his assistants covered up incidents; Baylor exonerated Briles in a 2017 letter. Briles did, however, tell the Morning News in March that he would have handled the allegations differently. 

"I'd make sure we had policies and procedures and Title IX in place across the board," he told a reporter in Italy.

The Baylor cases were not the first allegations of sexual assault against Briles' players. There was a claim made during Briles' first high school coaching stint. 

Deadspin reported in February that a woman told police in Stephenville, Texas, in 1991 that she was raped by one of Briles' players at Stephenville High School. No arrests were made. The woman's father told Deadspin he told Briles of his daughter's allegation.

"Art didn’t handle it right," Dorothy’s father says. "When I found out, I went straight to his house and told him what happened. He was taken aback. He couldn’t believe it. He said, 'What do you want me to do?' He said it was a ‘he-said/she-said’ at this point. There was no indictment. He didn’t know what to do."

An attorney for Briles told Deadspin that Briles could not recall meeting with the woman's father.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.