If you want to get technical about it, Art Briles has not been fired.
Such is the world of red tape, even at green and gold Baylor. Briles was officially “suspended with intent to terminate,” which is the college football version of your girlfriend saying, “I think we need some time away.”
It’s a ham handed way of saying, “I just need a little more time to officially decide how to end this crap.” And true to form, Jim Grobe was brought in to take over the team from the non-fired coach.
So amidst reports that there were a few members still lingering around Baylor with enough weight to cause a stink that wanted Briles back with a one-year suspension, predictably, everyone went nuts.
The bottom line, though, is that not only would the Board of Regents (BOR) who met this week but reportedly didn’t place a vote on anything Briles-related need to vote to un-suspend with intent to terminate him, they’d also need to vote for the one-year suspension plus have Briles agree to it.
Talk about red tape.
All of that makes it unlikely to happen, which makes the uproar over a mostly quixotic decision to leak to the media that some people were considering wanting Briles back only after an agreed upon but totally superficial slap on the hand all that more surprising.
Baylor needs to do a lot of things, a lot of soul searching, and if they don’t do it on their own, probably need to be forced to do it. But for this portion, I’m not getting into anything deeper than the public relations quagmire they seem to constantly find themselves in these days.
It’d be smart for them, whatever decision is made, to get all the power brokers together and hunker down and make a decision to keep any thoughts into the inner circle … not to the media so visceral, angry reaction can be quelled at least as much as it can be.
Someone going rogue and giving the impression that Baylor is considering bringing Briles back under any circumstances, especially while the wounds from this story are still gushing blood, only serves to paint Baylor (even more) as a ruthless football-win-starved buzz saw willing to chop down anything that gets in its way.
It may or may not be the truth, but the optics of it aren’t good, and that’s putting it lightly.
For his part, Baylor’s interim president David Garland said that he was caught off guard by the reports, which make it all the more troubling that these conversations aren’t being kept in the sanctity of a very small, trusted group.
The predictable reaction, though, could have been avoided had these conversations happened in a group rather than with the media. Once it gets out there, the narrative can go however it wants to. Briles should be gone, and most everyone seems to agree with that.
The bloodletting has only begun, but it isn’t helped in any way when someone or someones breaks from the ranks and gives the impression that there’s this groundswell of support possibly for “business as usual” when “business” has been proven to be awfully oily in the name of touchdowns and 10-win seasons.
Baylor should be moved to do the right things and speed up its recovery, yes, in the name of wins, but needs to get all hands on deck to get there. Not on the cell phone with the media.
