CFL Decides Art Briles Won't Be Named Assistant Coach for Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Former Baylor head coach Art Briles had seemingly joined the staff of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats as the assistant head coach on offense for a few hours Monday before the offer was taken off the table.

The CFL said in a news release that Briles would not join the Tiger-Cats, via The Athletic:

"Art Briles will no longer be joining the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a coach. 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 endeavors."

Head coach June Jones had previously announced in a statement Monday that Briles would join the team.

Briles, 61, was fired by Baylor in May 2016 amid a university-wide sexual assault scandal that involved multiple former football players.

Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell said earlier Monday the CFL was aware the team had hired Briles and discussed why it did so, via 3DownNation.com:

"We were very well aware of [the issues surrounding Briles' tenure at Baylor], and it's been a long deliberation internally, collecting information, talking to as many people as possible, quite frankly getting the facts about things straightened away. 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 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 is a good man that was caught in a very bad situation. 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."

A lawsuit filed in January alleged 52 acts of rape were committed by 31 different football players over a four-year period from 2011 to 2014. Baylor's football program allegedly used sex to show recruits a "good time," and the school is accused of committing multiple Title IX violations during Briles' tenure.

Briles, school president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw lost their jobs as a result of the scandal. The coach has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against Baylor, which has since been dropped.

Jasmin Hernandez, a rape victim of a former Baylor football player, removed Briles and McCaw from her Title IX lawsuit earlier this month.

"There's no question this is one step toward him getting back into coaching," Briles' attorney Mark Lanier told Phillip Ericksen of the Waco Tribune-Herald. "He did not want to get back into coaching until he finished through the legal system."

Lanier said Briles hopes to get back into collegiate coaching for the 2018 season. He went 99-65 across 13 seasons as the head coach at Baylor and Houston.