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Ex coach Art Briles rips Baylor, claims wrongful termination

 
Art Briles
Art Briles
Published June 17, 2016

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — Fired Baylor coach Art Briles ripped his former employer Thursday, accusing the school of wrongful termination and indicating he has no interest in settling a federal lawsuit filed against him and the university by a woman who was raped by a football player.

In a motion filed Thursday as part of the lawsuit, Briles said he wants new attorneys separate from the school, and his personal attorney said Baylor was using the coach as a scapegoat for its failings in handling allegations of sexual assault.

"The conclusion is inescapable that the motive of Baylor and the Board of Regents was to use its head football coach and the Baylor athletic department as a camouflage to disguise and distract from its own institutional failure to comply" with federal civil rights protections, Briles lawyer Ernest Cannon wrote to Baylor's attorneys in the latest development in a scandal that has gripped the world's largest Baptist university for months .

Cannon also demanded that Baylor "immediately turn over to me the entire contents of each and every one of their litigation files" — including information given to the Pepper Hamilton law firm that investigated Baylor's response to assault allegations in recent years.

Baylor officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Briles had been mostly silent since he was fired on May 26, but the brass-knuckles response from the 60-year-old coach suggest he's willing to fight the school over his dismissal.

The Bears went 50-15 over the last five seasons and won two Big 12 titles, stealing the spotlight from programs including Texas and Oklahoma.

Although Briles' contract remains private, various outlets have reported that it ran through 2023 and averaged as much as $6 million per year. Multiple outlets also reported this week that some wealthy Baylor donors were pushing Baylor regents to bring Briles back, but the effort appeared to fizzle out by Wednesday. Briles' legal filings came hours later.