Art Briles and Grambling State have made it official.
Multiple media outlets are reporting that GSU has hired the former Baylor head coach to fill its offensive coordinator under Hue Jackson. Grambling State head coach Hue Jackson was looking to fill his offensive coordinator position after Ted White was hired by the Houston Texans.
After a brilliant career as a high school coach, Briles went 34-28 as the head coach at Houston from 2003-07 before taking over at Baylor. Baylor improved tremendously under Briles as he lead the perennial Big 12 doormat to back-to-back conference titles in 2013-14.
Briles was eventually dismissed from Baylor in 2016 following a scandal in 2015 in which he was accused of covering up for his players. An independent investigation from Pepper Hamilton LLP found that Briles and his staff did not take action against players mentioned in the allegations. University president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw resigned due to the scandal.
Since then he’s served as offensive coordinator of the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and spent part of 2019 coaching in Italy. He spent two years coaching at the high school level in Texas before sitting out coaching in 2021.
Grambling State is the first college coaching job for Art Briles since Baylor.
GSU averaged a SWAC-worst 16.9 points per game last fall under Brodrick Fobbs and Co. It also averaged a league-low 232.5 yards per contest.