The reaction to the hire is playing out pretty much how you’d expect. But the arguments are pretty flimsy so far.
Houston trying to slide its Kendal Briles announcement in on a Saturday when media preoccupied with champ game probably will not work.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) January 6, 2018
Trying to slide it in 60 hours before the title game? Really? This from the guy that believes college football is being driven into a ditch by Arizona firing a womanizer and $100 million programs paying assistant coaches the market rate. A Saturday announcement ensures coverage in Sunday newspapers, the most widely circulated of the week. But that doesn’t fit Dan’s agenda.
Is no one going 2 talk about how UH hired kendal briles? I know this is from Wikipedia but still pic.twitter.com/w4pntw6oUD
— Jeff Boyardee (@eyethawnuh) January 7, 2018
I’ll talk about it!
In a section titled, “The culture of sexual violence at Baylor: Recruiting,” the lawsuit states:
“Not only were BAYLOR’s football coaching staff instrumental in actively implementing these recruiting policies and practices, they also encouraged them. Assistant Coach Kendall Briles, while recruiting one Dallas area high school athlete stated, “Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at BAYLOR and they LOVE football players.”
The lawsuit tries to implicate that Kendal enabled rape solely based off of a Twitter direct message. While ungentlemanly, the DM doesn’t rise to “actively implementing” or “encouraging” sexual violence.
Kendal’s DM was included only for shock value. If the word ‘white’ were stricken from his message it would have never been in the lawsuit.
This is a risky and irresponsible hire for the Cougars. A lot of baggage plus more pending allegations on Kendal Briles. https://t.co/1hTm3aYtfy
— Jenny Dial Creech (@jennydialcreech) January 6, 2018
I can agree with risky. But in the 2.5 years since the Texas Monthly story brought the Baylor situation to light, nothing has even hinted that Kendal Briles was involved in the mess or any cover-up. Calling the hire irresponsible is, well, irresponsible.
The same people getting all triggered about UH hiring Kendal Briles are curling up right now with a couple pints of Ben And Jerrys while watching The Rapeys…I mean the Golden Globes casting their gaze to Hollywood to provide their moral compass.
— JD (@JDCoog71) January 8, 2018
You mean eating food from a company with herbicide in it’s product while watching a telecast featuring stars that have remained silent for decades on sexual assault while tweeting about it on a product made with child labor?
Weird.
The early reaction to Houston hiring Kendal Briles: not good. https://t.co/P0qc2cmkqA
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) January 6, 2018
Translation: the reaction from other sports writers. All the voices in the echo chamber make the same sound.
serious question: what does kendal briles contribute that makes him worth even considering hiring him? even if one doesn't care about the underlying issue, how's he worth what comes with him?
— bomani (@bomani_jones) January 6, 2018
Funny you should ask. Kendal brings an offense that was:
- 8th in scoring
- T-5th in first downs
- 6th in rushing offense
- 8th in redzone offense
- 9th in total offense
- 18th in pass efficiency.
And he transformed an RB from a 12 TD guy in 2016 into a 33 TD monster in 2017 (led the nation in TDs & 4th in yards).
Now, compare that to UH’s 2017 Tryptophan Offense. See? He contributes *something*
It is astonishing that UH has hired Kendal Briles. He was complicit with the whole Baylor situation and to my knowledge has never apologized or accepted any responsibility. Only vehemently excusing and covering up for his dad. No one that was on that staff should coach period!
— Fernando (@biggamebull) January 7, 2018
If you can show where he was complicit in the illegal activity at Baylor, I’ll be the first person to insist UH fires him. The first.
Here is the morality clause in Kendal Briles’ memorandum of understanding with Houston. pic.twitter.com/XQ3koMXoXK
— Max Olson (@max_olson) January 6, 2018
See? He’s gone if anything comes out.
Joe Alleva: Hire Kendal Briles -The Fans – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/7AFPqSUB49 via @Change
— Dean (@dean1step) January 5, 2018
LSU fans really wanted Kendal but that was shutdown on Friday by the AD, Step Slow Joe. Saturday morning, UH had a deal with him.
https://twitter.com/PCreighton1/status/949704854489968640
This is a Houston sports (radio?) host that I’ve honestly never heard of. It was merely shameful when FAU hired Briles but UH’s decision was both disgraceful and shameful. Sometime in the past year, hiring Kendal has also become disgraceful.
