Why Art Briles' road to redemption likely won't be as smooth as Bobby Petrino's
On April 1, 2012, Bobby Petrino lost control of his Harley-Davidson Road King, put it down on its left side and slid off Arkansas Highway 16 into a pile of dirt and tree limbs. At that moment he was the head coach of the University of Arkansas. That moment wouldn’t last.
Petrino claimed directly to bosses and to Arkansas fans via a news conference – where he wore a neck brace and had scrapes across his face – that he was alone that day. Then police reports detailed a young woman had been riding on the back of the motorcycle. She was a former Razorbacks volleyball player whom, after beginning an affair with Petrino, was hired by Petrino to work in the football program. The list of indiscretions – the lies, the job, the boss/employee dynamic – went beyond marital issues.
Arkansas had to fire Petrino. It did. Petrino was a punch line, a cautionary tale and, to some, an example of a once-great career gone bad.
He sat out the 2012 season only to be hired by Western Kentucky. After one season there, he returned to prominence at Louisville, where he’d begun his career as a college head coach. Three seasons later, the Cardinals are ranked No. 3 in the country and are a legitimate national title contender.
Say what you want about the guy – and that motorcycle wreck is but one thing said about him – he is an exceptional football coach.
Art Briles is an exceptional football coach, too. That much is undeniable. He was a great high school coach in Texas and an even better one at Baylor, which he turned from perennial loser to national powerhouse.
Briles is out of work this season, effectively fired last spring in the wake of a scandal involving how the program dealt with sexual assaults and allegations of sexual assaults involving players.
That’s left plenty of speculation about whether Briles is biding his time the way Petrino did, allowing the passing days to rebuild his image. Nothing drives the imagination of college football fans like the possibility of victory. And so the reasoning goes, if Louisville made the right call in brushing off Petrino’s off-field issues to now enjoy its best team ever, shouldn’t some school do the same with Briles? What about a mid-major, at least?
The answer: not necessarily and, at this point, not likely.
Let’s start with the obvious: Beyond the surface, the two situations have little in common. Yes, two great coaches had to sit out due to non-football reasons, but those reasons bear little resemblance.
You might think this was an obvious conclusion, but the topic is everywhere on college football message boards, talk shows and social-media discussions. As more seasons become lost, and coaches become doomed to be fired, it will only continue.
Petrino violated university protocol by hiring his girlfriend and then continuing an affair with an employee in his direct charge. Then he repeatedly lied to his bosses about it. He clearly hurt many people, namely his family, but his marriage survived. If that type of behavior were enough to kill a career, Brad Pitt wouldn’t still be a movie star.
Unlike Briles, Petrino wasn’t accused of callousness and misconduct after Briles’ players were accused of or found guilty of sexually assaulting female students. The entire scope of the issue didn’t result in making Louisville’s campus less safe. There aren’t co-eds dealing with trauma. The Baylor scandal, as we know it today, is reprehensible.
That is the other issue for Briles … as we know it.
So far Baylor has only released a “Finding of Facts” on the situation, courtesy of a law firm investigation. The report is actually very light on facts. There was also a lengthy list of recommendations for the school. Other media reports, victim statements in the press and court cases have shed further light on the situation. It isn’t pretty.
What, precisely, Briles did or didn’t do is still not fully known. Baylor said it will release the report in September, but thus far there’s been nothing, despite pleas from the local district attorney, the Big 12 Conference and lawyers for Briles and others.
Until that report comes out, Briles is in limbo. To hire him without knowing his exact actions – or as close as this investigation determined – is to walk in blind. It could be disqualifying. It could be worse than imagined. It could be so bad that he struggles to show his face again.
It could also, as Briles and his backers have argued, show far less culpability and poor decision-making from the coach than expected. It certainly could provide him with the opportunity to defend his actions, point by point, which he deserves.
Either way, these are uncertain waters. While fans, desperate for the kind of winning they envision Art Briles could bring to their school, may want to dream of the best, in the real world he remains the third-rail of college coaches.
As much as winning tends to motivate people to rationalize decisions in college athletics, self-preservation remains one of, if not, the most powerful of human emotions. An athletic director or university president who hires Art Briles would do so risking his or her own career.
If a coach were to repeat Petrino-esque behavior, the bosses could wash their hands and declare it a gamble. Or, just not care at all if he is winning enough. Not so with Briles. His hiring alone would be massively controversial. Another mistake would take out everyone – Baylor’s president and athletic director were also lost in the original case.
Even if an administration wanted to take that gamble, betting on football glory, it would be especially short-sighted to do so without all (or as close to all) of the facts.
Briles has begun a media campaign to rehab his image. He showed up in the stands of a Baylor game as a fan. He’s a talented coach with no team to lead. It’s been more than enough to get fans of stumbling programs across the country speculating about the possibilities.
Until more is known, though – and until that “more” somehow helps explain Briles’ behavior – none of the above matters. Neither does Louisville climbing the polls. It’s apples and oranges and motorcycles.
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