There have been a lot of comments on social media about the Miami football program hiring Houston Offensive Coordinator Kendall Briles in the same position. Briles should not and will not be hired to be the Offensive Coordinator for the Miami football team.
Head Coach Mark Richt clearly has his flaws but his biggest strength is his high character. As long as Richt is the Head Coach the chances of Briles being hired by the Miami football program are almost zero, as they should be.
Based on his background and involvement at Baylor in the rape and sexual assault scandal Briles should not be hired. The history of the Miami football program has at times been sordid.
The majority of scandals involving the Hurricanes have involved players being paid in some way. Miami has been on probation multiple times. The Miami football program was first on probation for the 1981 season under Howard Schnellenberger.
The next probation came under two-time National Championship Head Coach Dennis Erickson. Following Erickson’s departure to become the Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Butch Davis took over as the Head Coach.
Davis had a major rebuilding job following the loss of many scholarships because of a Pell Grant scandal. It took Davis many years to rebuild the Hurricanes back to a National Championship team.
Miami’s behavior at the 1991 Cotton Bowl also brought a lot of negative attention to Coral Gables. The Hurricanes had over 200 yards in penalties. Many, if not most of those were personal foul penalties. While some might claim it was swagger, it hurt the Hurricanes perception nationally. Then Athletic Director Sam Jankovich made sure Erickson cleaned that up.
The culture at Baylor when Briles was an assistant under his father Art was abhorrent. Even without the Hurricanes past, he shouldn’t be hired. Some have said that he lasted another year at Baylor without his father and that if he was hired at FAU and Houston why couldn’t he be hired at Miami.