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It’s been a decade since Art Briles coached his final game at Baylor before being fired over the scandal that brought his tenure to an ignominious end. However, he’s been given a second chance courtesy of a DII program in New Mexico.
Art Briles initially made a name for himself as a high school football coach in Texas before making the leap to the college level when Mike Leach added him to his team at Texas Tech. He continued to work his way up the ranks before he was hired as the head coach at Houston in 2003, and the Cougars made a bowl during four of his five seasons at the helm while posting a 34–28 record.
Briles landed at Baylor in 2008, and while it took him a little while to truly find his footing, he led the Bears to their first winning season in 15 years in his third season en route to turning them into legitimate contenders.
Baylor went 11-2 in 2013 and 2014 before finishing at 10-3 in 2015, but Briles was swiftly terminated during the offseason in 2016 in the wake of an investigation into players who were charged with various forms of assault and abuse that he was accused of turning a blind eye to.
It was a messy divorce that involved Briles suing the school for defamation while denying he had any knowledge of the incidents that multiple victims claimed he was made aware of, and he has not been involved with any college football program since his dismissal.
However, that is no longer the case.
Art Briles is returning to coaching at the college level after being hired by Eastern New Mexico University
Briles didn’t waste any time attempting to land a new job, but that was easier said than done.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL hired him to serve as an assistant in 2017 before reversing course over the blowback they received, and Southern Miss had to do some damage control after offering him an interview for its offensive coordinator vacancy in 2019.
He’d headed to Italy the previous year to serve as the head coach for Guelfi Firenze, which was the first of two stints that sandwiched his two seasons as the skipper at Mount Vernon High School in Texas (Briles was also briefly hired as the offensive coordinator at Grambling State under Hue Jackson in 2022 before another round of backlash led to him tendering his resignation).
Now, Eastern New Mexico University has decided to become the latest school to put itself at the center of an easily avoidable firestorm after announcing Briles has been tapped to replace Kelley Lee as their head coach.
🎉𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬🎉
Head Football Coach – Eastern New Mexico University#ReignForever #ALLIN #ENMUhttps://t.co/8mO9vhySdW
— Eastern New Mexico University Football (@ENMUFootball) November 24, 2025
ENMU athletic director Kevin Fite, who worked alongside Briles at Houston, described him as an “excellent coach” while declining to mention other aspects of his reputation that also would have needed to be taken into consideration before deciding to pull the trigger.
The press release hyping up the hire highlighted his achievements at Baylor while neglecting to mention why he stopped coaching there, which is not necessarily a surprise but still a rough look.
The Greyhounds, a Division II program, parted ways with Briles’ predecessor after going 3-8 this season.