Disgraced coach Art Briles will make his return to college football this fall as Grambling State’s offensive coordinator. The hiring has already been met with significant controversy, stemming from his past stint at Baylor, where Briles was found to have turned a blind eye to rampant sexual assault within his program. Doug Williams, a senior advisor for the Washington Commanders and the first black quarterback to earn Super Bowl MVP honors, criticized the hire, lamenting his alma mater associating with Briles after the toxic atmosphere he fostered at Baylor, playing a central role in a scandal the school is still recovering from.
“I’m very, very disappointed in Grambling,” Williams expressed to Nicki Jhabvala and Andrew Golden of the Washington Post. “I talked to the A.D. a couple times. They knew where I stood, but they did it and if that’s what they want to do, that’s fine. I’m out.”
A member of the Commanders’ Ring of Honor, Williams not only played at Grambling, but also coached there, helming the Tigers from 1998-2003 and again from 2011-13. However, Williams says he can no longer support the program, at least while Briles is there. “Oh, no. I can’t do that. No, no, no. If I support them, I condone it,” said Williams. “I don’t know why Grambling State had to go be the one to hire him.”
Since Baylor fired him in 2016, Briles has struggled to find work, coaching internationally in Italy and later at the high school level in his native Texas. An HBCU (historically black college and university), Grambling State finished a disappointing 4-7 last season, prompting the Tigers to overhaul their coaching staff. Grambling recently hired Hue Jackson, best known for his winless season with the Cleveland Browns in 2017, as their 14th coach in school history.
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