Art Briles: ‘I do feel responsibility’ for scandal at Baylor

Former Baylor head coach Art Briles was interviewed by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi on Saturday.

Former Baylor head coach Art Briles addressed his role in the school’s rape scandal that led to his firing during an interview aired Saturday morning on ESPN. 

“I feel responsibility,” Briles told ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi. “These players are part of our program and representative of our program. When they do wrong, it reflects on me so I do feel responsibility.”

Speaking with reporters at Dallas Cowboys training camp last month, Briles said he had done nothing wrong. 

Rinaldi also asked Briles what he would say if given the chance to speak with the victims.

“I’d tell them I'm extremely sorry,” Briles said. “It just appalls me that somebody could victimize another human being. And there’s no place in society for it. And I’ve never condoned it and never will and never put up with it.”

In a clip from the interview released earlier in the week by ESPN, Briles said he was sorry for the mistakes he made.

“I made mistakes. I did wrong, but I'm not doing this trying to make myself feel better for apologizing,” Briles said. “I understand I made some mistakes. There was some bad things that went on under my watch. I was the captain of this ship. The captain of the ship goes down with it. So, I understand that I made some mistakes, and for that I’m sorry. But I’m not trying to plead for people's sympathy. I'm just stating that, ‘Hey, I made some mistakes. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna do better.”

The full interview can be seen below. 

Briles was fired in May after an investigation commissioned by the school found the football program failed to take appropriate action against players accused of sexual assault. 

Two players Briles brought to Baylor as transfer students, Shawn Oakman and Sam Ukwuachu, were dismissed from their previous schools after off-field incidents and were later accused of committing sexual assault while at Baylor.