UH's, Applewhite's, Chickens Come Home to Roost; Kendal "White Women" Briles gets golden parachute

"Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall."
Proverbs 16:18

Reading the Athletic's analysis (Note: Subscription Required) of the UH coaching vacancy, this stands out:

When November began, Houston had a 7-1 record and was No. 17 in the AP poll, and quarterback D’Eriq King was among the most prolific players in the country. Things were rolling.

Less than two months later, Houston fired head coach Major Applewhite after finishing 8-5 with a 70-14 loss to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl. Things change quickly.

This isn't surprising when you consider the arrogance and greed UH has shown in the past year.

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Kendal "White Women" Briles:

Under Major Applewhite, UH hired an offensive coordinator with more sexual assault baggage than any other active coach in the country.

In case you have forgotten Kendal Briles' CV:

Former Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles allegedly used sex to sell the football program according to a new lawsuit against the university obtained by the Dallas Morning News.

The lawsuit, filed by a woman identified as Elizabeth Doe who reports being gang raped by two former football players, alleges that Baylor "used sex to sell" the football program to recruits. One Dallas-area high school recruit said Briles once asked him, "Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players."

Briles, the son of fired Baylor head coach Art Briles, is now the offensive coordinator at FAU.

The lawsuit is another bombshell in the long-lasting Baylor sexual assault scandal. The investigation by lawyers identified at least 52 "acts of rape" by 31 football players from 2011 to 2014. This included five gang rapes, at least two of which were committed by 10 or more players at one time, according to the lawsuit. These numbers are significantly higher than previously disclosed by Baylor's regents.

Yikes.

Meanwhile, UH's rationalization for hiring Briles was that he was some sort of alleged genius as an offensive coordinator.

 Yet, from an on-field perspective, Briles' offense only managed 14 points...against Army.

It's fitting.

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UH's stonewalling re: Kendall "White Women" Briles:

[Note: Keep in mind that, throughout all this, UH was tooting their own horn in the local media about their post #MeToo handling of sexual assault.]

But, even though he doesn't deserve it,  let's give Kendal Briles the benefit of the doubt.  Let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that the Baylor Truthers are right.  Let's assume that Art and Kendal Briles were scapegoats.

If all of the above were true, then UH hiring Kendal Briles might have been a worthwhile act of forgiveness.

If, however, the above were true...then one would think UH would be extra-transparent about how they vetted Kendal Briles.

UH did the opposite:

University of Houston President and Chancellor Renu Khator assured faculty on Tuesday that the university conducted additional review "above and beyond" typical hiring practices when it added ex-Baylor University football assistant coaches Kendal Briles and Randy Clements to its football program.

Both Briles and Clements were employed by Baylor during a sexual assault scandal. UH announced the hires earlier this month.

Khator, who wrote to faculty in an email Tuesday, said the university also required coaching staff to receive additional training about the law, UH policies "as well as about our culture of reporting."

Khator did not mention Briles and Clements by name or by their former affiliation with Baylor in the email, but a university spokesman confirmed that the two were the subject of the notice. Khator also said that the "new staff members" had morality clauses in their contracts, which Briles and Clements did.

aka: "Trust us."

We didn't trust UH.

Shortly after UH hired Kendal Briles, this author sent an open records request about how Kendal Briles was vetted.  UH's response left more questions than answers.  But what little we did learn undermined the official story.

Specifically, based on information UH released in response to an open records request from this author, we learned:

• Baylor raised red flags about Kendal Briles.

• Major Applewhite remains in contact with Art Briles.

• Applewhite was more concerned about the Kendal Briles hire leaking early than we was about any of the Baylor stuff.

That's not good.

In response, we sent several rounds of follow up open records requests.  We got nothing.  As in, UH literally didn't respond to our requests.  Keep in mind, they're obligated by law to at least respond.

The situation got so bad that we filed an official complaint with the Attorney General's office.

While the Attorney General's office resolved the immediate issue, none of the above inspires confidence in how UH originally vetted Kendal Briles.

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Major Applewhite's 'extra-cirriculars':

Then there's this:

A lawsuit by former Texas women’s track coach Bev Kearney against the school is probing how administrators in the offices that investigate campus sexual misconduct handled former football assistant Major Applewhite’s 2009 relationship with a student trainer on a bowl trip.

Kearney, who is black, was forced out in 2013 after the school learned she had a relationship with one of her athletes a decade earlier. She has alleged race and sex discrimination, noting that Applewhite, who is white, was allowed to keep his job and was later promoted after his incident was discovered. Applewhite, a former quarterback at Texas, stayed on staff through 2013 and is now the head coach at Houston.

[Note: We said our piece about this lawsuit from the Longhorn perspective at the time.]

By itself, this incident doesn't reveal much.  Obviously, it's not good.  But Major Applewhite shouldn't be crucified for doing something irresponsible on a night when everyone was partying.

That being said, in the context of the Kendal Briles hire, a pattern of arrogance as it relates to sexual matters begins to emerge.

We've also always found it interesting that this story emerged during the same week UH was stonewalling over Briles.

Finally, one can only wonder if Major Applewhite is hiding other skeletons.

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Borris Miles:

Then there's this:

So Tillman Fertitta, UH's Board Chairman [Note: Yes, THAT Tilmann Fertitta], had Borris FRIGGIN' Miles as an honored guest at a UH football game.

Yes, THAT Borris Miles.

In fairness to Tilman Fertitta, UH is located in Miles' state senate district.  So a case can be made that including Miles is politics as usual.  But, with all due respect to Tilman Fertitta, we don't think politics as usual applies with Borris Miles.

A toxic culture starts at the top.

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Kendal "White Women" Briles' Golden Parachute at Florida State:

Despite all that:

Kendal Briles has been hired to be Florida State’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, head coach Willie Taggart announced Sunday.

“I’m excited about the addition of Kendal to our staff,” Taggart said.

“He brings play-calling experience and familiarity with the type of scheme and tempo we will run, which is similar to the offenses he has coordinated. His ability to recruit, manage an offensive staff, develop quarterbacks and make in-game adjustments will be beneficial to us as we evolve in our offense. Kendal has success at the Power 5 level and has also shown his adaptability to personnel and situations that occur during a season. He had multiple opportunities following the 2018 season and we feel the fit here will be a good one.”

Briles, who will have primary play-calling duties, comes to FSU having served as an offensive coordinator at Baylor during the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Florida Atlantic in 2017 and Houston in 2018.

Obviously, we're appalled.  But he's not Texas' problem any longer.  Florida can have him.

Also, for the record: Florida State is Jameis Winston's alma mater.

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Bottom Line: As UH assesses what went wrong this season, they'd be wise to do a deeper self-examination....