Art Briles out as Head Coach of Baylor Football

With rumors swirling that the Pepper Hamilton report could be released today and that Baylor University may be looking for a new President soon, it appears that something that would have been completely unthinkable even a year ago has happened and Baylor will fire the most successful head coach in our history today.  An official announcement should come within the next few minutes.

Without knowing what the report says yet, I can only speculate that Baylor/Pepper Hamilton found something in the report that it simply could not live with going forward.  The fact that Ken Starr has taken such a public stance today, through Joe Schad, about the propriety of his own actions -- he claims he was never told anything before 2015 -- seems to suggest that something was kept from him somewhere along the line.  Again, that's pure speculation, since we know almost nothing, but it would make sense.

As I said above, if you had told me this time last year that Baylor would be firing Art Briles in May 2016, I would have told you that you were crazy.  In pure football terms, this is almost undoubtedly the highest point yet in Baylor history, and he's been by far the most important part of that.  His worth to Baylor is simply incalculable. And not enough.

I'm honestly floored by this news, and I don't know what it means for the rest of the staff going forward.  Until Baylor releases something indicating who will take over in the interim or what the remaining staff will look like, we just won't know.  All we know right now, as confirmed by ESPN's Brett McMurphy, is that Briles is out.

We'll keep you posted going forward as best we can.

UPDATE: Bennett expected to take over as Interim HC for now:

Baylor expected to make defensive coordinator Phil Bennett interim coach, per source. Kendall Briles to remain on staff as of now.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) May 26, 2016