Report: Board of Regents Discusses Future of Art Briles

According to a new report this morning from KWTX in Waco, the Baylor Board of Regents met last night and discussed the future of Art Briles in the meeting. After the story broke widely that the Board may be considering reinstatement for Briles, it seemed as though the Board may have backed away from that plan. But the KWTX report seems to indicate that the question of Briles' future at Baylor is still unresolved.

Conflicting reports have indicated that some Board members are pushing to at least give Briles the opportunity to tell his side of the events that took place and were outlined in vague detail in the Findings of Fact released a few weeks ago by the Board of Regents. This comes on the heels of an interview that interim president David Garland did with WFAA in Dallas yesterday evening, stating that he was "caught off guard" by rumors of Briles’ potential return to the sidelines and that the Board meeting was not set up to discuss his status. In the KWTX article, #sources indicate that a preliminary vote was held in the Board meeting and that the vote was "very close," but the outcome of the vote is unknown at this time.

On Outkick The Coverage, Clay Travis posed the question of whether Baylor has cause to fire Briles, pointing out the vagueness of the Findings of Fact. He speculates that a decision to reinstate Briles may have to do with contractual obligations, the cost of firing or settling with Briles. He speculates that if Baylor doesn't have the evidence to fire Briles for cause, a settlement on Briles' contract might cost the university anywhere from $15-25 million.

Jason King of Bleacher Report spoke with David Smoak's You Make The Call show on 1660 ESPN Central Texas yesterday and had some strong things to say about Briles, the situation overall, and the media's coverage of the story. Here's a snippet of his commentary on the media's coverage of the story:

I’ve been extremely disappointed, as a media member, at some of the things that have been written and the way that the press have handled this situation. I feel like it’s a crusade; I feel like things are being reported by people that don’t know all the facts. People are making assumptions; they establish narratives in their head about what happened and what didn’t happen. They’ve been lazy and haven’t done the research, and, really, used their platforms to sway public opinion. And I think that’s poor journalism. It’s disappointing to see, but that’s kind of the world we’re living in right now.

King feels that the Board of Regents did overreact, making a "bold" move to satisfy the media pressure. "To fire a guy based on what they have, and him specifically, from what I’ve been told they don’t have enough to do it." You should check out the entire interview, which is about 9 minutes long. Here's the link:

.@JasonKingBR joins #YMTC to talk about the rumors on the possible reinstatement of Art Briles. https://t.co/SKcuK5tqOh

— ESPN Central Texas (@1660ESPN) June 14, 2016

For an excellent recap of all of the facts in play with this particular situation, you should also check out David Ubben’s article this morning for Sports on Earth. He does a good job of laying everything out on the table as to the factors in play, the information we actually have available to us, and the decisions still to be made.

This has been a story with a lot of national media attention and constantly wavering information, so be sure to stay with us on the blog for the very latest.