Baylor assistant coaches say Art Briles was unaware of alleged rape

Baylor football’s assistant coaches came out in defense of former head coach Art Briles.

Baylor assistant coaches  spoke out in defense of former head coach Art Briles on Friday night, releasing a joint statement on Twitter disputing a claim by the school’s Board of Regents that Briles chose not to report an alleged gang rape involving players.

Briles was fired in May as part of the program’s ongoing sexual assault scandal, involving 17 reported sexual assault allegations from women that involved 19 Baylor players, dating back to 2011.

Baylor regent David Harper told the Dallas Morning News he knew of at least one occasion where Briles knew of allegations and opted not to report them to authorities. The coaches’ statement is below, from the account of Briles’s son Kendal, the team’s offensive coordinator:

The coaches assert Briles was unaware of the incident until nine months after it happened, and that Briles reported it. The victim in the incident was an athlete at the school, and the statement defends Briles’s integrity, citing the victim’s head coach, who said he handled things “honorably” and gave it the “attention it deserved.”

Baylor wide receiver Chris Platt said on Twitter Friday that the team was wearing black uniforms for Saturday's game against TCU in protest of the firing Briles, according to ESPN. Platt then said that was untrue, clarifying what the tweet meant.

#CAB t-shirts selling at tailgate outside McLane Stadium ahead of Baylor-TCU $20 short $25 long sleeve pic.twitter.com/fleGKpykqM

— Tony Adame (@t_adame) November 5, 2016

An unidentified group appears to be selling shirts labeled "CAB" (Coach Art Briles) outside the stadium in support of Briles. Photo is above.