Art Briles is back on a college sideline, and with that return comes a fresh reminder of how close he once came to landing at Texas.
Briles has taken over at Eastern New Mexico, giving him his first head coaching job in college football since 2016. The Greyhounds are a Division II program that has been stuck in a long losing stretch, and Briles arrives there after two separate coaching runs in Italy and a two-year stint in the high school ranks at Mount Pleasant.
In a conversation with On3’s Brett McMurphy, Briles confirmed what had only been hinted at before: he had accepted a deal to coach the Longhorns at the end of the 2013 season, when Texas was searching for a replacement for Mack Brown. But after Baylor’s first-ever BCS appearance ended in a 52-40 Fiesta Bowl loss to UCF, he changed course and stayed in Waco.
”I mean, I was there,” Briles told McMurphy. “If we’d won our bowl game, I would have left Baylor 100 percent.
It was done for me because I’m a (state of) Texas guy and (my son) Kendal played there. So it made sense.”
Two days after that Fiesta Bowl, Briles posted on Twitter, “Contrary to reports and rumors I am a Baylor Bear - 2013 Big 12 Champs,” and Baylor later issued a statement confirming he was staying.
At that point, Baylor was climbing fast under Briles. The Bears had won 10 games in 2011 for only the second time in school history, fueled by upsets of Oklahoma and Texas that helped Robert Griffin III win the Heisman Trophy. Two seasons later, Baylor beat Texas again and finished with a program-record 11 wins, while Briles had become one of the hottest coaches in the country.
Texas ended up hiring Louisville coach Charlie Strong, who likely was not even the second or third choice for then-athletics director Steve Patterson, the man who replaced DeLoss Dodds. Strong lasted three seasons and went 16-21.
Briles’ Baylor tenure eventually ended in 2016, when the release of the Pepper Hamilton report laid out the scope of the athlete misconduct scandal in Waco.
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