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Baylor assistants sign message on Twitter in support of Art Briles

nick bromberg
College football and motorsports writer
Former Baylor coach Art Briles is supported by his assistant coaches. (Getty)
Former Baylor coach Art Briles is supported by his assistant coaches. (Getty)

Baylor’s assistant coaches support their fired former boss Art Briles.

The coaches, including Briles’ son Kendal, the team’s offensive coordinator, posted this message to Twitter Friday night.

The note was signed by Baylor’s coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. Interim coach Jim Grobe’s name was not on the message.

The statement comes a day after regents from the school met with the Dallas Morning News. The regents told the paper that Briles knew about one of the four allegations of gang rape by Baylor football players since 2011. The school has said 17 women have come forward with allegations vs. 19 players in that timeframe.

Briles’ knowledge of one of the accusations is also what the Wall Street Journal reported last week. From the News:

In a meeting between four Baylor regents and The News’ editorial board on Thursday, David Harper said he knew of the allegations of at least one incident.

“He was made aware of one of the allegations of a gang rape,” Harper told The News said. “At least one of them. I can’t tell you if he knew or didn’t know about the others.”

Briles’ attorney, Ernest Cannon, told The News on Thursday night that Briles did “everything that he was required to.” On Friday night, Cannon noted the unanimous support from the coaches and staff that signed the note.

Briles was fired in May and the school said in an open letter this week that it didn’t want to fire the assistant coaches for the failing of its leader. Outside of Briles and two football staffers, the coaching staff remained intact for interim coach Grobe.

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The former coach has said he’s regretted the way things were handled at Baylor but has not publicly provided specifics for any apologies he’s issued. He allegedly met with regents days before his firing and broke down crying and cited scripture.

Baylor plays TCU on Saturday and is wearing black from head-to-toe. Wide receiver Chris Platt used a hashtag for support for Briles in reference to the uniforms in a now deleted tweet.

But Platt said the uniforms are not in support of or in protest for Briles. It’s hard to imagine how Baylor would approve such a message if it was the impetus for wearing black vs. the Horned Frogs. But a lot of things at Baylor have been hard to fathom over the past few months.

Fans are also selling #CAB shirts outside of McLane Stadium for those fans who want to support Briles.

And a suite even took the liberty of hanging a banner with the hashtag as the game vs. TCU kicked off.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!