Briles Takes The Baylor Job

[Charlie NT 73]

Well, Art did OK for himself. Doubled his salary from $900K a year to $1.8 million!

7 year contract to dig Baylor out of the depths of the Big 12.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3131738

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

This is an excellent hire all the way around for Baylor. Same type of offense has been run at BU for three seasons now. Briles will inherit a program where he's not coming in teaching something foreign to the players. His familiarity with the area recruiting-wise will also be a boon.

Very solid move by Baylor.

[Varsity]

Very solid move by Baylor.

I agree, Briles should bring Baylor back to life.

[forevereagle]

I agree, Briles should bring Baylor back to life.

If I recall, there was a lot of "Morriss should get this program back on track" talk when he took the job too.

I think that Briles could conceivably have a chance to possibly get Baylor back on track, maybe...if everything falls the right way.

Edited November 28, 2007 by forevereagle

[MeanGreenZen]

Briles better enjoy the higher salary while it lasts because taking over the Baylor football team is career suicide. Baylor will never win in football in the Big 12. They just don't have the resources to compete with the Oklahoma's, the UT's and the Texas A&M's. Oh sure, they may pull off an upset every couple of years but Baylor will always be an also-ran/doormat in the Big 12. They should just stick with women's basketball and baseball. Briles should have waited for Leach to jump ship at Texas Tech.

[Green92]

Morriss' Baylor teams had their moments. They just couldn't seem to get over that preverbal hump. One of my favorite games is when they beat A&M. My wife and brother are both Baylor grads. There was much celebration after that game. We listened to the end of the game in the Fouts parking lot after the UNT game. It was pouring rain and we could barely hear what was going on. Whether or not you hate Baylor, that was a long time coming.

[Eagle1855]

Briles better enjoy the higher salary while it lasts because taking over the Baylor football team is career suicide. Baylor will never win in football in the Big 12. They just don't have the resources to compete with the Oklahoma's, the UT's and the Texas A&M's. Oh sure, they may pull off an upset every couple of years but Baylor will always be an also-ran/doormat in the Big 12. They should just stick with women's basketball and baseball. Briles should have waited for Leach to jump ship at Texas Tech.

agree 100%.

[NT80]

Are Briles and Dodge good friends? Could we get a series going again with the Bear cubs?

[Green92]

Briles better enjoy the higher salary while it lasts because taking over the Baylor football team is career suicide. Baylor will never win in football in the Big 12. They just don't have the resources to compete with the Oklahoma's, the UT's and the Texas A&M's. Oh sure, they may pull off an upset every couple of years but Baylor will always be an also-ran/doormat in the Big 12. They should just stick with women's basketball and baseball. Briles should have waited for Leach to jump ship at Texas Tech.

Never? Never ever? Not even in a million years? I guess they should just quit. I guess we should too. I mean, we are never going to win a national championship. We may never win the conference again. That's the only reason to play the sport isn't it? I mean if you don't win, then you should quit, right? There is not good in sports unless you win? I never played on a team that won a championship. Guess that was a waste of my time.

[Eagle1855]

Never? Never ever? Not even in a million years? I guess they should just quit. I guess we should too. I mean, we are never going to win a national championship. We may never win the conference again. That's the only reason to play the sport isn't it? I mean if you don't win, then you should quit, right? There is not good in sports unless you win? I never played on a team that won a championship. Guess that was a waste of my time.

We get it, you're a huge Baylor fan. Step back a bit and look at it objectively. Baylor is at best the 11th best football program in the Big 12, and easily dead ass last in it's division. It's not to say they cant enjoy a 6-6 or 7-5 season once in a blue moon (though it hasnt happened in the Big 12 yet, and if I recall correctly Guy Morriss was going to be THE GUY to get them there), but to say (or otherwise imply) that Baylor will ever beat the likes of OU, Texas, Ok State, and A&M... ALL IN THE SAME YEAR... is homerism at it's finest.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Eagle1855

[MeanGreenZen]

Never? Never ever? Not even in a million years? I guess they should just quit. I guess we should too. I mean, we are never going to win a national championship. We may never win the conference again. That's the only reason to play the sport isn't it? I mean if you don't win, then you should quit, right? There is not good in sports unless you win? I never played on a team that won a championship. Guess that was a waste of my time.

Your logic is taking some pretty big leaps there. But... Baylor will never win the Big 12. Not in a million years. Yes, they should quit the Big 12. And since you asked... In my opinion, UNT will not win a national championship in football in my lifetime. But that is not the point, we can crack the top 25 and consistently challenge for the Sun Belt title. Through smarter scheduling and some leaps in conference affiliation UNT could enjoy the same level of success TCU has been enjoying in their Franchione/Patterson era. Consistently playing against teams with bigger fan bases and more resources is a recipe for disaster for Baylor. And no coach can win in the Big 12 there. Name one private school in a small media market that challenges for the championship in a BCS conference...

[JesseMartin]

Who knows what could happen? Teams have new life breathed into them all the time. I doubt Baylor will be a force in the Big 12 any time soon, but I'm sure a lot of people doubted that schools like Rutgers would be a force anywhere, ever. Especially as weird as college football has gotten this year...if it continues, who knows? Mizzou and Kansas have both been contenders for the national title in the last few weeks...and that's pretty weird. After this year, and to a point, the last couple of years, Baylor beating a few of their South mates in the next couple of years wouldn't really surprise me that much anymore.

[Green92]

My logic takes some leaps? Anyway, chances are Baylor will never win the Big 12. However, with the right coach they can be competitive and go to bowl games. There aspirations are just as real and legitimate as ours. I'm not trying to get into a pissing contest, but pointing out that your statements of "never" or "no one can" for a future event are silly to make. You should probably know that being in the insurance business.

Why in the world who we be able to crack the top 10 and not Baylor? That makes no sense at all.

[Eagle1855]

Why in the world who we be able to crack the top 10 and not Baylor? That makes no sense at all.

I'll put it this way... if Baylor was in the Sun Belt, WAC, C-USA, or MWC, all other things considered, they would have as good a chance of cracking the top 10 (or top 12 for the BCS) as we would. We play one or two quality BCS opponents a year. They play several.

True, anything is "possible", however "probability" is also a term used in the insurance industry. The probability of Baylor winning enough games to claim a Big 12 South title is on par with the odds of me successfully wrangling a 3 way with my girlfriend and a certain Brazilian Victoria's Secret model. Now I'm a pretty charming and persuasive guy, but even for someone as in love with myself as me, I'm willing to admit that might be a bit of a stretch.

Edited November 28, 2007 by Eagle1855

[GreenBat]

It's going to take a miracle for the Bears not to finish 6th in the Big 12 South (Baylor, Oklahoma, Ok. St., Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech).

They might finish ahead of Ok. St. once the next 10 years. They will never finish in the top 3 of the division. Let alone even sniff a shot at the Big XII Championship game.

Briles is a good guy and a great coach, but he is going to coaching purgatory.

[flyeater]

It's going to take a miracle for the Bears not to finish 6th in the Big 12 South (Baylor, Oklahoma, Ok. St., Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech).

They might finish ahead of Ok. St. once the next 10 years. They will never finish in the top 3 of the division. Let alone even sniff a shot at the Big XII Championship game.

Briles is a good guy and a great coach, but he is going to coaching purgatory.

If they schedule right, get the dreadful defense somewhat fixed and steal a few annually in B12 (like the winnable one at Missouri a few years back when they used the wrong QB until it was too late), they'll bowl almost every year. Houston was in pretty bad shape when Briles got there, to the point it could have been a coach killer, too. The dude was Dodge before Dodge, one of the best high school coaches in the country who needed time to figure it all out. Lucky for Briles, he had two years at Tech to cut teeth, but Houston basically hired him as a newbie. Sucks for the UH folks, but I can see it being us someday, too.

Nice call, Baylor. Thumbs up.

[NT80]

Well, Art did OK for himself. Doubled his salary from $900K a year to $1.8 million!

7 year contract to dig Baylor out of the depths of the Big 12.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3131738

Are they nuts offering $1.8 million per year for seven years? I could see graduated payments after some achievements but that is crazy to start with. 100 high school head coaches just decided to apply for assistant college coaching positions and try to hit the lottery like him someday.

[JesseMartin]

We're in the area. The Big 12 is a lot of what we see and hear as far as football.

But really...who thought that the upstarts would do such a job on the traditional ACC and Big East power teams lately? True, they're in a bit of a slump, but to anyone on the East Coast it seemed crazy...but it happened. I grew up in Buffalo and Philly, and the people I still talk to out there thought it (the rise of the "other teams") was about the weirdest thing they'd ever seen.

Oh, and Eagle1855-I don't know about a Brazilian Victoria's Secret model, but as recently as 2 years ago, there were quite a few girls in Denton who...uhm...well, you know, just go to Fry St. next time you're in town and be social, see if things work out for ya.

[Guest 97and03]

You are looking at this only from the negative.

SINCE Baylor is such a crap job, Briles can't do any worse really than his predecessors. Failing at Baylor would not surprise anyone. In fact, if he does pull out a few 6, 7, or even 8 win seasons, he will look like a frickin' genius and be a hot coaching commodity for a bigger, better job.

Think about it. Sweep OOC games and pull off a couple wins in the Big 12. Lose to UT, ATM, and OU and a North school. You are 8-4 and going to a half-assed bowl game. Which is something they have not done for a while. So you do that (or close to it) every year and someone will hire him away in 4-5 years max.

I think it is a smart move by both parties.

[Guest GrayEagleOne]

If I know anything about Art Briles he wouldn't have taken the job if he thought that he would consistently be the conference doormat. He may have tougher competition than he had at Houston but he will also be able to get some true BCS-type talent.

He won't become a dominant factor in the South nor will he have a national championship but he will be competitive with half of the South and most of the North. Art Briles has been a winner throughout his coaching career and I believe that he'll have Baylor competitive within a few years.

[FirefightnRick]

Mizzouri will never win anything either because......

Rick

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Baylor will return eight offensive starters, seven on defense, and both the punter and kicker. All receivers and their back-ups return. All QBs return. They're run spread for three seasons now. Under Briles, they will be running it for the fourth.

Texas A&M and Texas both were unable to put Baylor away this year until midway through the fourth periods of those games. Baylor was 3-1 in their out of conference schedule which consisted of TCU, Rice, Texas State, and Buffalo. They schedule smart - that is, they schedule winnable games.

Briles won't have to rebuild the offense at Baylor. His defensive coaches at UH are all experienced at the D-IA level and shold be able to shape up a unit with many returning starters.

This is a golden hire for the Bears. They'll go a bowl game in 2008. Hear me now, believe me later.

Edited November 28, 2007 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

[eulessismore]

If I know anything about Art Briles he wouldn't have taken the job if he thought that he would consistently be the conference doormat. He may have tougher competition than he had at Houston but he will also be able to get some true BCS-type talent.

He won't become a dominant factor in the South nor will he have a national championship but he will be competitive with half of the South and most of the North. Art Briles has been a winner throughout his coaching career and I believe that he'll have Baylor competitive within a few years.

I agree with you, GrayEagleOne, as to Briles having a chance to become a real winner at Baylor, and in the ways you describe. Baylor reminds me of another University in a way, the formerly Baptist affiliated Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Here's some tidbits about their recent football history, under someone who seems to be the right coach for such a place.

Wake Forest under Jim Grober up to 2006

WFU 2006-2007 results

WFU 2007-2008 results

Differences? Yes, Baylor has many more students, WFU is in the ACC, but WFU always seems to find ways to be competititive. I think Baylor also can (of course I KNOW North Texas can).

[Green Nightmare]

Let me preface this, that in no way shape or form am I a fan of Baylor.

Baylor as a football program may be the worst in the Big XII

However, I think overall atheltic championships they are second to UT.

Briles gets them to a 7-5 8-4 area he will be a god and off to the next big job.

[Varsity]

Mizzouri will never win anything either because......

Rick nailed it.

If sorry-ass Kansas and K-State can be dragged off the mat, Baylor sure as hell can. Waco sits in the middle of some good bluechip producing territory and Briles has some good things to sell recruits.