Ex-Baylor Coach Art Briles Hired by New Football League

The former Bears coach worked most recently in Italy.

Former Baylor football coach Art Briles will make a return to stateside football next summer as he takes on the head coaching position for the International Football Alliance’s Dallas team.

The league, which will consist of three American teams and three Mexican teams, plans to start play in June 2024.

Briles coached at Baylor from 2008–15 but was fired in ’16 after an investigation into how the program handled myriad sexual assault claims against players. Briles and his staff did not act on any sexual assault allegations against the players and even encouraged accusers to not report their complaints, the investigation found.

Originally, Briles’s contract at Baylor would have run through the 2023 season. Instead, the 67-year-old spent two seasons coaching the Mount Vernon High School football team in Texas from 2019–20. He also coached the Firenze Guelfi team in the Italian pro league last year.

IT'S OFFICIAL! The IFA is excited to announce former @BUFootball & @UHCougarFB head coach Art Briles as the new coach of the Dallas Pioneros!

Coach Briles was named the @AP College Football Coach of the Year in 2013 after leading Baylor to a @Big12Conference championship! pic.twitter.com/WYIvjWkT61

— International Football Alliance (@TheIFAFootball) August 10, 2023

Briles will begin his coaching duties swith the IFA’s Dallas Pioneros when the team holds tryouts on Aug. 20 for the 2024 season. IFA teams are allowed to sign 20 American players, but the rest of teams’ 53-man rosters must be made up of international players.