By Jackson Posey | Sports Editor
Former Baylor football coach Art Briles spoke at a sold-out Texas Football Hall of Fame luncheon Thursday, his first public address in Waco since his firing in May 2016. He and fellow panelist Bryce Petty were greeted with standing ovations.
Hall of Fame coach Grant Teaff and a dozen former Briles players, including quarterbacks Petty, Seth Russell and Nick Florence, were among those in attendance.
“This is extremely gratifying and heartwarming,” Briles said. “Just touches my soul.”
Briles coached at Baylor from 2008-2015, compiling a 65-37 record while leading one of the biggest turnarounds in program history. He took over a team that hadn’t made the postseason in 13 seasons — or won a bowl game since Teaff retired in 1992 — and won back-to-back Big 12 Championships in 2013 and 2014.
Former Baylor student Dolores Lozano filed a Title IX and negligence lawsuit against Briles, former athletic director Ian McCaw and the university in 2016. Briles and McCaw were dismissed from the lawsuit in October 2023 when Judge Robert Pitman said the plaintiff did not prove the case against them and “no reasonable jury” could conclude the two men were negligent.
A contingent of Baylor fans has continued to support Briles since his firing. Perhaps most notably, shirts emblazoned with #CAB — for coach Art Briles — were sold at a tailgate prior to the Bears’ 2016 home game against TCU.
Thursday’s crowd, the largest in Texas Football Hall of Fame luncheon history, was jovial and engaged. In a prayer before food was provided, one speaker expressed gratitude for the ability to “celebrate a wonderful time in Baylor football history.”
Petty also expressed deep gratitude for Briles, saying he loves “everything about him” and noting how he led “impressionable” young men.
“He is so honest and transparent in being genuine,” Petty said. “He is just himself unapologetically. People love that. People need that in this world.”
Briles spoke about his first seven seasons at Baylor, particularly the two conference title teams captained by Petty, who threw for 8,055 yards and 61 touchdowns in 2013 and 2014.
After the first title, the Bears capped an 11-1 regular season with a 52-42 Fiesta Bowl loss to UCF. Texas came calling for Briles after the season, the coach said, but he didn’t feel right leaving after a loss.
“Honestly, if we would have won that game, it might have come to fruition,” Briles said. “I had all these guys come up with us and make the journey to get to where we were at, and honestly at that time I felt like I would’ve been betraying them and the university.
“It could’ve gotten real real,” he continued. “They wanted to come out to Arizona to meet with me after the game and all that stuff, and I just said no, that wasn’t the right time.”
Instead, Briles stayed in Waco, where he said he had a hand in deciding to put McLane Stadium in its current location.
“Because initially, all the powers … wanted to put it back by the Ferrell Center,” Briles said. “I thought, ‘We got the Brazos River, we got I-35. Well, why don’t we put it where everybody that drives down that highway can look at it?’ Some 10-year-old kid will look out the window and say, ‘Daddy, what’s that? What’s that big building?’ He’ll say, ‘That’s Baylor’s football stadium.’”
After years out of the spotlight, Briles’ face has popped up more often lately. Last November, Baylor honored the 2013 and 2014 title teams on the field, inviting players but not Briles or his staff. Many of the coaches, including Briles, instead joined more than 100 players at George’s restaurant for a private (but well-publicized) reunion.
Ninety miles northwest, Briles pioneered his spread offense scheme at Stephenville High School in the late 1990s. The school opened its new football venue, Art Briles Stadium, in September.
Baylor’s pregame hype video at McLane Stadium now includes footage of Briles and the program has brought back chrome helmets — a Briles-era staple — for the first time since undergoing a university-wide rebrand in 2019. Now, he’s back in town during homecoming.
