Art Briles apologizes, but ducks blame again in interview about Baylor scandal

Former Baylor coach Art Briles apologized for his role in the Baylor sexual assault scandal, but didn’t really go into great detail about what he was apologizing for.

Briles sat down with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi for an interview which aired in bulk on Saturday, and while he apologized for the incidents that took place under him, he didn’t go into much detail.

“There were some bad things that happened under my watch,” Briles told Rinaldi, via Mark Schlabach and Paula Lavigne of ESPN. “And for that, I’m sorry. … I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m going to learn. I’m going to get better.”

Briles was also apologetic when asked what he’d tell the victims.

“I’d tell them I’m extremely sorry. It just appalls me that somebody could victimize another human being. And there’s no place in society for it. And I’ve never condoned it and never will and never put up with it,” Briles said. “These players are part of our program and representatives of our program. And when they do wrong, then it reflects on me and the university. So I do feel responsibility.”

When specific incidents came up during the interview, however, Briles was evasive and did not take responsibility, claiming ignorance or blaming policies in place that prevented him from doing much.

“The way the chain usually works is the head coach is last to know,” Briles said. “Head coaches are sometimes protected, in certain instances, from minor issues. Now, major issues I was always made aware of.”

Briles defended himself by saying allegations were investigated by his staff, though the inquest into the school’s conduct found that such investigations were protective of players and not nearly thorough enough.

Briles did say he’d take lessons from the scandals.

“I would start with being more proactive in everything that goes on with any inkling of a problem that we have with any student-athlete,” Briles said. “I would want to be the first to know. And I would be personally involved with everything that went on from the discipline issue … and then make sure that we have policies and procedures and protocols in place to protect our students.”

There is something vaguely Greg Hardy-ish about Briles’s contrition. He takes vague responsibility for wrongdoing, but when specific examples come up, the wrongdoing is blamed on someone or something else that prevented him from acting. It probably won’t do anything to make the victims feel better, and the interview is unlikely to rehabilitate Briles much in the court of public opinion.