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Former Baylor football coach Art Briles was hired Monday as an assistant coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Briles was dismissed at Baylor last year after a university investigation of its handling of allegations of sexual assaults by students, which included football players.
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Former Hawai'i and SMU coach June Jones was named the Tiger-Cats' head coach on Thursday, when they were 0-8. Jones has hired Briles as the team's assistant head coach for offense.
Quarterback Robert Griffin III, who is an NFL free agent at the moment, is on the Tiger-Cats negotiation list and they have exclusive rights to sign Griffin if he wants to play in the CFL. Griffin won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Briles at Baylor.
Briles, 61, has been out of coaching since May 2016, when Baylor officials suspended him before his dismissal.
He coached at Baylor from 2008 to 2015 and had a 65-37 record. The Bears won a share of the Big 12 title in 2013 and 2014.
According to ESPN.com, Briles' hiring has already drawn criticism from Canadian news outlets as well as from Tiger-Cats fans on social media.
"The Commissioner (Randy Ambrosie) is in continuing discussions with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats regarding the hiring of Art Briles as a coach," the CFL said in a statement. "We will have no further comment until those discussions have concluded."
