Texas Tech football rumors: Is Art Briles in play for Texas Tech?

Internet rumors suggesting that the Texas Tech football program could be kicking the tires on Art Briles are picking up steam and can’t fully be dismissed.

One of the best portions of the college football calendar is the annual late fall/early winter coaching carousel and this year’s version has already started to turn.  And many Texas Tech football fans are in hopes that the Red Raiders will be part of the madness this year after two underwhelming years of the Matt Wells experiment.

While there has been no official word on Wells’ status for next year from the university or Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt, the Texas Tech corner of the internet is ablaze with rumors that some big-money boosters and highly influential people are pushing for Wells to be fired and for former Baylor head coach Art Briles to be his replacement.

These rumors are numerous enough and they come from enough different sources, to give us all reason to believe that this is not just an instance of random people throwing something against the wall hoping it sticks.  But how serious of a possibility this scenario actually is remains a mystery.

However, it is at least substantial enough for a couple of local Lubbock media personalities to react to it.  Thursday, Rob Breaux, host of the Rob Breaux Show on 1340 AM in Lubbock posted a poll on Twitter asking fans how if they would support Briles were he to be named head coach.

Also, West Texas media personality Jay Leeson of TheOtherSideofTexas.com also added fuel to this fire by saying that “Briles to Tech has legs”.  What’s more, subscribers to one of the Texas Tech online premium message boards have been hearing Briles’ name thrown about by more than one influential booster in recent weeks.

It all adds up to a story worth at least keeping an eye on as the Red Raiders wrap up a disappointing 2020 season with a tickle fight against winless Kansas on Saturday at 11 a.m.  In fact, what happens after this matchup of Big 12 gnats should be far more interesting than what transpires on the field at Jones Stadium.

Briles remains one of the most controversial figures in the game of football.  Currently the head coach at Mount Vernon, Texas High School, he is best known for being the head coach of the Baylor Bears from 2008-2015 where he authored one of the most remarkable turnarounds in college football history by taking the once woebegone Bears to Big 12 championships in 2013 and 2014.

However, in 2016, the Rule, Texas native, who graduated from Texas Tech in 1979, was fired amid allegations that the Baylor football program was complicit in the cover-up of sexual assault allegations against BU players.

Since then, the now 65-year-old has been persona non grata in most football circles. In fact, he was run out of the Canadian Football League in 2017 after backlash over his hiring as the offensive coordinator of the Hamilton Tiger Cats.

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Thus, in 2019 he had to take a job coaching football in Italy to begin the process of rehabilitating his reputation.  But recently, at least one major media personality has come out in support of Briles.

In March of this year, Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage had Briles on his radio show and allowed the disgraced coach to share his side of the story. What’s more, in October, Travis double-down on his support of Briles in a written piece that suggested Baylor used Briles as a scapegoat.

But make no mistake, if Briles were to get back into the college coaching game, even as an assistant, he would be a lightning rod.  And were that to happen at Texas Tech, it would certainly divide the Red Raider fan base.

On one hand, Briles may be the most qualified coach that Tech could land, at least when it comes to his football resume.  In 13 years as a college head coach (he was first the head coach at Houston from 2003-07), he’s compiled a record of 99-65 with three conference titles.

What’s more, he guided Baylor to four top-15 finishes including a No. 7 finish in 2014.  Oh, and he also helped guide former Baylor QB Robert Griffin III to the 2011 Heisman Trophy.

However, for many, those successes don’t outweigh the accusations that he was part of helping cover up unspeakable acts by members of his football team.  And because Baylor is a private institution, the public has never been made aware of the results of the investigation Baylor paid the Pepper Hamilton Lawfirm to conduct into the matter.  However, that could change given that a federal judge ordered this summer that Baylor hand over its records as part of a lawsuit filed against the school on behalf of numerous anonymous women who claim to be victims of the alleged assaults.

But what won’t change, regardless of what comes out now or in the future, is Briles’ status as one of the more controversial figures in the sport of football.  However, if the rumors are true, some rather influential people are pushing Texas Tech to consider giving Briles a second chance.