Texas football news: How close Art Briles came to replacing Mack Brown in 2014
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Texas came remarkably close to hire Art Briles as the team’s head coach in 2014 after Mack Brown resigned following the 2013 season. The Longhorns had agreed to a six-year contract with him to take over the Longhorns, according to Briles, and officials were prepared to finalize the deal in Phoenix following Baylor’s Fiesta Bowl matchup with UCF.
Briles told On3’s Brett McMurphy that he was fully prepared to leave the Bears had Baylor won that game. Instead, the Bears suffered a 52-42 loss to the Knights, leading Briles to reconsider the move and remain in Waco.
“I mean, I was there,” said Briles. “If we’d won our bowl game, I would have left Baylor 100%. It was done for me because I’m a Texas guy and (my son) Kendal played there. So it made sense.”
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The decision was huge because Baylor was coming off the most successful stretch in program history. Briles guided the Bears to a Big 12 championship in 2013 and an 11-win season, while Baylor had also reached 10 victories in 2011. During his eight seasons with the Bears, Briles compiled a 65-37 record and produced four top-15 finishes.
Former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw said Texas had made an aggressive push for Briles, calling the Longhorns the best job in college football and pointing out that Briles had turned down greater money and prestige to remain at Baylor.
Texas instead hired Louisville coach Charlie Strong. Strong went 16-21 over three seasons from 2014 through 2016 with the Longhorns, while Briles remained with the Bears until he was fired in 2016 following a university investigation into the handling of sexual assault allegations involving players.
The near-hire ultimately became one of the biggest what-if moments in Texas football. Briles later coached outside the state, including in Italy, before returning to college football with Eastern New Mexico. Meanwhile, the Longhorns eventually moved from Strong to Tom Herman after Strong’s three-year tenure failed to restore the program.
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