Every TAXPAYER in the state of Texas is now PAYING Art Briles

"Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own life;
He swears to tell the truth, but reveals nothing."
Proverbs 29:24

Since they did it as a Friday Evening Holiday Evening document dump, you might not have heard:

On a Friday evening news dump just before the start of a holiday weekend, the Mt. Vernon Independent School district announced that it had hired ex-Baylor coach Art Briles to lead the Texas high school’s football team. Superintendent Jason McCullough said during a Facebook live session that the school board approved the hiring in a 7-0 vote.

....

This hire comes nearly three years after Baylor fired Briles after an investigation found that the school had seriously mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct and violence against players on the football team. The Pepper Hamilton firm’s investigation found that 19 football players had sexually assaulted at least 17 women during Briles’ tenure with the team. One lawsuit against the program alleged that as many as 52 rapes occurred in that same span.

The press release that Mt. Vernon used to announce the hire unsurprisingly does not mention any of this in the slightest—the closest it comes to even mildly acknowledging some past issues is when it brings up the district’s Title IX coordinator—and it spits in the face of any allegations of misconduct with a collection of tone-deaf tidbits.

....

The implications of this hire won’t be lost on anyone with even a minimal understanding of Baylor’s scandal. Bringing in Briles is clear proof that Mt. Vernon High School values winning football games over understanding the feelings and voices of sexual assault and rape survivors, especially those who attend that school. But it also shows that the powers behind this misogynistic decision are shriveling cowards because they tried to hide it in a Friday news dump. If the school had only taken the time it spent figuring out the best way to smuggle this news past the long weekend and instead used it to look up any number of coaches that did not oversee a program with widespread issues of sexual assault, they might not be in this mess.

This website's feelings about Art Briles are well known. They haven't changed.  There's a lot we could say, but we concur with Wescott Eberts:

Briles, for his part, also failed to publicly address the key concerns, just as he’s consistently failed at every turn to take accountability for his actions or express remorse about everything that happened. He remains completely unrepentant — apologizing for his mistakes should be the baseline, the absolute baseline, for getting a second chance anywhere in public life.

Read Wescott's whole piece here.

It's gets "better."

It's not just that Art Briles is back coaching football.  It's not even just that Art Briles is back coaching football despite having never accepted responsibility.  It that Art Briles is back coaching football despite having never accepted responsibility...and we're paying for it!!!

Say what you will about Baylor, but they are a private institution.  As such, they have a certain 'institutional autonomy' to make bad decisions.  Likewise, the Hamilton Tiger Cats (the Canadian team that tried to hire Briles in 2017).

But ISD's in Texas are public!!!  As in funded by taxpayers!!!  As in YOU!!!

Have you paid sales taxes in Texas in the past year?!?

Congratulations!!!

You're now paying Art Briles.

Bottom Line: For taxpayers to foot the bill for this wretched situation is yet another condemnable detail....