Mt. Vernon is selling their soul for this dirtbag...
How a small Texas town has reacted to the hiring of Art Briles
The hire of Art Briles as the new football coach at Mount Vernon High School in East Texas has drawn attention from across the country. AP Photo/LM Otero
Jul 11, 2019
Inside, at the "Table of Knowledge" -- so indicated by the sign hanging from the ceiling -- several men in blue jeans and work shirts, a few in cowboy hats, ate lunch and discussed the business of the day. Interrupted by a reporter, they didn't have any problem offering up opinions about their town becoming national news for who it hired to lead the Mount Vernon High School football team.
First of all, they don't know the new coach from Adam. Might not recognize him if he walked in right now with his ball cap on. But they know everybody deserves a second chance. Says so in the Bible. And none of them want to be involved in any story. Don't want their names in there.
The sentiment was the same up and down Highway 37 and off Main Street downtown, at the Dairy Queen or the Brookshire's grocery store. Residents said they were worried about their own jobs or feeding their cattle. But overall, they thought it was fine if that coach wanted to come to this little town and start over. They're not even sure how it happened, just that this was a decision made by their elected officials.
That coach, of course, is Art Briles, who was fired in 2016 after an investigation into sexual violence at Baylor University. The investigation was sparked by the August 2015 conviction of football player Sam Ukwuachu for sexually assaulting a female Baylor soccer player. (Ukwuachu's conviction was overturned on Thursday.) Law firm Pepper Hamilton found at least 17 women who reported being sexually assaulted by 19 football players amid wider findings of failings at Baylor. The fallout led to a series of Title IX lawsuits and the eventual resignation of Baylor president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw.
Social media instantly carried news of Briles' new job far and wide on the Friday night before Memorial Day weekend. A Yahoo! headline said Mount Vernon "sold its soul." The Austin American-Statesman called it "misguided" and said the board "whiffed" on the hire.
And Mount Vernon found itself the object of national scorn for the school board's decision to offer a lifeline to a disgraced coach.
Brenda Tracy, sexual assault survivor and founder of #SetTheExpectation, a nonprofit that works to combat sexual and physical violence through education and direct engagement with coaches and players, said this week that "the attitude is they're willing to win, no matter what, is all that's emanating for me right now from Mount Vernon. It's disheartening that these communities still exist where football is above everything."
Mount Vernon Independent School District superintendent Jason McCullough told ESPN the school district believes it has done its homework and is confident it has the right man.
"During our due diligence process, we found the problems at Baylor University to be systemic, university-wide, and well beyond the scope of any one program or department," he said. "While that does not in itself excuse any one individual, we did find it notable that Coach Briles expressed remorse over the systemic shortcomings at Baylor, including his program's part in them, and his desire to learn from the mistakes of the past."
school board meeting where the hire was announced, citizens gasped and cheered as board members pumped their fists and smiled at the crowd.
news release never mentioned the word "Baylor" and stated Briles "brings with him a wealth of not only football experience but also life experience." It also touted that 85-year-old former Baylor coach Grant Teaff said Briles "never incurred a single recruiting infraction during his time at the collegiate level."
The real issue, of course, was in the Baylor board of regents' findings of fact, which noted that "football coaches and staff took affirmative steps to maintain internal control over discipline of players and to actively divert cases from the student conduct or criminal processes," which "reinforced an overall perception that football was above the rules, and that there was no culture of accountability for misconduct."
In response to a libel lawsuit filed by Briles' former director of football operations, Colin Shillinglaw, against Baylor and several members of its senior leadership, regents responded by alleging Briles and his staff created a disciplinary "black hole" into "which reports of misconduct such as drug use, physical assault, domestic violence, brandishing of guns, indecent exposure and academic fraud disappeared." The regents' response also included damning comments from Briles, such as his response to an accusation of gang rape by a female student-athlete who alleged that five football players raped her at an off-campus party in 2012. "Those are some bad dudes," Briles responded to the accuser's coach. "Why was she around those guys?" While Briles told the coach he should have the woman notify the police, Pepper Hamilton attorneys found that no one, including Briles, notified police, judicial affairs or anyone outside of athletics about the incident.
"Contrary to some people's belief," the response said, "Briles was not a 'scapegoat' for the University's larger problems -- he was part of the larger problem."
Briles' supporters cite a $15.1 million settlement as well as a May 23, 2017, letter obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Baylor's general counsel, Christopher W. Holmes, to Briles that read, in part, "at this time we are unaware of any situation where you personally had contact with anyone who directly reported to you being the victim of sexual assault or that you directly discouraged the victim of an alleged sexual assault from reporting to law enforcement or University officials. Nor are we aware of any situation where you played a student athlete who had been found responsible for sexual assault."
Briles, who earlier this week declined comment for this story, had never lived or worked outside of Texas before taking the job in Italy and was desperate to return home. ("I'm not going to learn Italian," Briles told the Baylor Line Foundation. "I'm going to teach them Texan.") Mount Vernon, meanwhile, has a career playoff record of 20-25 with no state title game appearances. Its head-coaching job had recently come open in mid-May after Josh Finney, who was 19-5 in two seasons with the Tigers, returned to his hometown 17 miles down the road to coach Winnsboro, one of Mount Vernon's biggest rivals.
In 114 seasons, Baylor won 10 games five times. Briles was the coach for four of those seasons. At his last high school job, in Stephenville, Texas, he went 135-29-2 in 12 seasons and won four state titles between 1993 and 1999. The allure proved too irresistible, according to Ramsay.
"For what he's done for high school football and for college football, he deserves another chance," he said.
The Tigers' new coach will return to the sidelines this fall at Don Meredith Stadium, named for Mount Vernon's favorite son, the first player ever signed by the Dallas Cowboys, who later became a beloved Monday Night Football announcer alongside Howard Cosell. The modest facility has aluminum stands that seat about 3,000, one concession stand and a track around the field. It's a humbling contrast to Baylor's $266 million, 45,000-seat McLane Stadium, which Briles' success helped build in 2014, the same year the Bears finished No. 7 in the AP poll, the highest finish in school history.
No, Mount Vernon won't go the way of Hamilton, Ontario, up in Canada, where the Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League announced they were hiring Briles, then quickly reversed course in August 2017 after the outrage came swiftly. It also won't be Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson interviewed Briles for his offensive coordinator job in February of this year, only to be blocked from considering him for the job by the school president and athletic director amid an outcry.
So, why Mount Vernon?
On a public Facebook post on May 24, Mount Vernon's Michael Landon Ramsay, a Baylor graduate who has a "Sic 'Em Bears" overlay on his profile photo, was asked whether he had any influence on the Briles hire.
"This is absolutely unbelievable," Ramsay responded on Facebook. "Actually I had no influence however my cousin did because she used to work for him and actually called him in Italy about coming to Mount Vernon Texas."
McCullough declined to answer specific questions about how he connected with Briles, saying only via email that "Coach Briles expressed interest in the head coaching vacancy through a local acquaintance." Several members of the school board, including its president, didn't return phone or email messages from ESPN.com. And the town mayor, Teresia Wims, said in an email that "the city of Mount Vernon was not involved and had no foreknowledge of the hiring."
But folks in town knew to ask a Ramsay about the hire: On the streets of Mount Vernon, you don't have to look far to find the Ramsay name.
Directly across from the high school, across the highway named for Tom Ramsay, is the Law Office of Landon W. Ramsay. Landon's dad, Lanny, was a judge here in Franklin County from 1971-75, then became a justice for decades in the Eighth Judicial District overseeing Franklin, Delta and Hopkins counties. Will Ramsay, Lanny's other son, has been the district attorney for the Eighth District since 2013.
Landon and Will are Baylor men. Both graduated from Baylor as undergrads and then from Baylor Law School. And Leigh Anne Ramsay, Landon Ramsay's wife, is listed in Baylor's football media guide from 2014-16 as assistant director of campus recruiting under Briles, a position generally responsible for things like coordinating recruits' visits, organizing visiting players' schedules for game days and other special events.
At that same time, Landon worked as a prosecutor at the McLennan County Criminal District Attorney's Office in Waco. Michael Landon Ramsay -- of the Facebook post -- is a cousin of Landon's. Leigh Anne, Landon and Will Ramsay did not answer queries from ESPN about Briles' hiring.
"If he did what he was accused of, it would be a big problem in our family," Tom Ramsay said. "But we don't think he's guilty of anything."
Tax forms filed by Baylor in 2016 revealed Briles was paid about $6.19 million per season, which would have made him the highest-paid coach in the Big 12. Briles' two-year contract at Mount Vernon will pay him $82,000 a year as football coach and athletic director.
That penance isn't good enough for Lewis, who remains appalled that Briles will be walking the halls of the high school, which has about 450 students.
Greg and Shannon Ostertag renovated historic general store M.L. Edwards & Co. in Mount Vernon's downtown square. Dave Wilson/ESPN
"I don't feel like he's coming here to pay the price," Lewis said. "We're paying the price for his redemption. We're going to be used as a stepping stone to restart his career. And the superintendent thought it was a good idea for Mount Vernon to be that stepping stone."
McCullough certainly has seen steady support, after the initial announcement and during the onslaught from outsiders in the past month.
"I believe our community is going to support this decision, and we are going to wrap our arms around this," McCullough told KCEN-TV in Austin. "I do not foresee us walking away from Art Briles."
"Art Briles, to me, forfeited the privilege of coaching," Tracy said. "I just don't think, based on what happened, he should coach again. The idea of having Briles with young, impressionable kids is ludicrous."
McCullough said he understands the scrutiny and is willing to face the discussion.
"This is a small town. My door is always open and, chances are, you'll bump into me or a school trustee at a school function, church or the grocery store on a pretty regular basis," he said. "We take great pride in our community and in our schools, and we strive to be responsive and maintain an open flow of information with this community."
Tom Ramsay agreed and thinks the town can patch things up.
"I really think honestly that Mount Vernon will pull together," he said. "I've never seen it not pull together."
A few assistant coaches are in place and already at work getting ready for the season. Briles' Italian league team finished its season this past Saturday, clearing the way for his arrival in Mount Vernon. But Lewis thinks the damage has already been done.
"When I was a kid and we'd travel, anytime anyone would ask my dad where we're from, my dad would say, 'Do you know 'Dandy' Don Meredith?" Lewis said. "It was a source of pride. I just can't imagine any father in an elevator now saying, 'Do you know Art Briles?'"
She said the message to those who are at odds with the administration has been, "Get over it. Get with it. It's happening."
Right now, there's one thing the pro-Briles and anti-Briles contingent can agree on: It's absolutely unthinkable that, in 2019, Art Briles would be a high school football coach in this small town.
How a small Texas town has reacted to the hiring of Art Briles
The hire of Art Briles as the new football coach at Mount Vernon High School in East Texas has drawn attention from across the country. AP Photo/LM Otero
Jul 11, 2019
-
Dave WilsonESPN Staff Writer
Inside, at the "Table of Knowledge" -- so indicated by the sign hanging from the ceiling -- several men in blue jeans and work shirts, a few in cowboy hats, ate lunch and discussed the business of the day. Interrupted by a reporter, they didn't have any problem offering up opinions about their town becoming national news for who it hired to lead the Mount Vernon High School football team.
First of all, they don't know the new coach from Adam. Might not recognize him if he walked in right now with his ball cap on. But they know everybody deserves a second chance. Says so in the Bible. And none of them want to be involved in any story. Don't want their names in there.
The sentiment was the same up and down Highway 37 and off Main Street downtown, at the Dairy Queen or the Brookshire's grocery store. Residents said they were worried about their own jobs or feeding their cattle. But overall, they thought it was fine if that coach wanted to come to this little town and start over. They're not even sure how it happened, just that this was a decision made by their elected officials.
That coach, of course, is Art Briles, who was fired in 2016 after an investigation into sexual violence at Baylor University. The investigation was sparked by the August 2015 conviction of football player Sam Ukwuachu for sexually assaulting a female Baylor soccer player. (Ukwuachu's conviction was overturned on Thursday.) Law firm Pepper Hamilton found at least 17 women who reported being sexually assaulted by 19 football players amid wider findings of failings at Baylor. The fallout led to a series of Title IX lawsuits and the eventual resignation of Baylor president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw.
Social media instantly carried news of Briles' new job far and wide on the Friday night before Memorial Day weekend. A Yahoo! headline said Mount Vernon "sold its soul." The Austin American-Statesman called it "misguided" and said the board "whiffed" on the hire.
And Mount Vernon found itself the object of national scorn for the school board's decision to offer a lifeline to a disgraced coach.
Brenda Tracy, sexual assault survivor and founder of #SetTheExpectation, a nonprofit that works to combat sexual and physical violence through education and direct engagement with coaches and players, said this week that "the attitude is they're willing to win, no matter what, is all that's emanating for me right now from Mount Vernon. It's disheartening that these communities still exist where football is above everything."
Mount Vernon Independent School District superintendent Jason McCullough told ESPN the school district believes it has done its homework and is confident it has the right man.
"During our due diligence process, we found the problems at Baylor University to be systemic, university-wide, and well beyond the scope of any one program or department," he said. "While that does not in itself excuse any one individual, we did find it notable that Coach Briles expressed remorse over the systemic shortcomings at Baylor, including his program's part in them, and his desire to learn from the mistakes of the past."
school board meeting where the hire was announced, citizens gasped and cheered as board members pumped their fists and smiled at the crowd.
news release never mentioned the word "Baylor" and stated Briles "brings with him a wealth of not only football experience but also life experience." It also touted that 85-year-old former Baylor coach Grant Teaff said Briles "never incurred a single recruiting infraction during his time at the collegiate level."
The real issue, of course, was in the Baylor board of regents' findings of fact, which noted that "football coaches and staff took affirmative steps to maintain internal control over discipline of players and to actively divert cases from the student conduct or criminal processes," which "reinforced an overall perception that football was above the rules, and that there was no culture of accountability for misconduct."
In response to a libel lawsuit filed by Briles' former director of football operations, Colin Shillinglaw, against Baylor and several members of its senior leadership, regents responded by alleging Briles and his staff created a disciplinary "black hole" into "which reports of misconduct such as drug use, physical assault, domestic violence, brandishing of guns, indecent exposure and academic fraud disappeared." The regents' response also included damning comments from Briles, such as his response to an accusation of gang rape by a female student-athlete who alleged that five football players raped her at an off-campus party in 2012. "Those are some bad dudes," Briles responded to the accuser's coach. "Why was she around those guys?" While Briles told the coach he should have the woman notify the police, Pepper Hamilton attorneys found that no one, including Briles, notified police, judicial affairs or anyone outside of athletics about the incident.
"Contrary to some people's belief," the response said, "Briles was not a 'scapegoat' for the University's larger problems -- he was part of the larger problem."
Briles' supporters cite a $15.1 million settlement as well as a May 23, 2017, letter obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Baylor's general counsel, Christopher W. Holmes, to Briles that read, in part, "at this time we are unaware of any situation where you personally had contact with anyone who directly reported to you being the victim of sexual assault or that you directly discouraged the victim of an alleged sexual assault from reporting to law enforcement or University officials. Nor are we aware of any situation where you played a student athlete who had been found responsible for sexual assault."
Briles, who earlier this week declined comment for this story, had never lived or worked outside of Texas before taking the job in Italy and was desperate to return home. ("I'm not going to learn Italian," Briles told the Baylor Line Foundation. "I'm going to teach them Texan.") Mount Vernon, meanwhile, has a career playoff record of 20-25 with no state title game appearances. Its head-coaching job had recently come open in mid-May after Josh Finney, who was 19-5 in two seasons with the Tigers, returned to his hometown 17 miles down the road to coach Winnsboro, one of Mount Vernon's biggest rivals.
In 114 seasons, Baylor won 10 games five times. Briles was the coach for four of those seasons. At his last high school job, in Stephenville, Texas, he went 135-29-2 in 12 seasons and won four state titles between 1993 and 1999. The allure proved too irresistible, according to Ramsay.
"For what he's done for high school football and for college football, he deserves another chance," he said.
The Tigers' new coach will return to the sidelines this fall at Don Meredith Stadium, named for Mount Vernon's favorite son, the first player ever signed by the Dallas Cowboys, who later became a beloved Monday Night Football announcer alongside Howard Cosell. The modest facility has aluminum stands that seat about 3,000, one concession stand and a track around the field. It's a humbling contrast to Baylor's $266 million, 45,000-seat McLane Stadium, which Briles' success helped build in 2014, the same year the Bears finished No. 7 in the AP poll, the highest finish in school history.
No, Mount Vernon won't go the way of Hamilton, Ontario, up in Canada, where the Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League announced they were hiring Briles, then quickly reversed course in August 2017 after the outrage came swiftly. It also won't be Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson interviewed Briles for his offensive coordinator job in February of this year, only to be blocked from considering him for the job by the school president and athletic director amid an outcry.
So, why Mount Vernon?
On a public Facebook post on May 24, Mount Vernon's Michael Landon Ramsay, a Baylor graduate who has a "Sic 'Em Bears" overlay on his profile photo, was asked whether he had any influence on the Briles hire.
"This is absolutely unbelievable," Ramsay responded on Facebook. "Actually I had no influence however my cousin did because she used to work for him and actually called him in Italy about coming to Mount Vernon Texas."
McCullough declined to answer specific questions about how he connected with Briles, saying only via email that "Coach Briles expressed interest in the head coaching vacancy through a local acquaintance." Several members of the school board, including its president, didn't return phone or email messages from ESPN.com. And the town mayor, Teresia Wims, said in an email that "the city of Mount Vernon was not involved and had no foreknowledge of the hiring."
But folks in town knew to ask a Ramsay about the hire: On the streets of Mount Vernon, you don't have to look far to find the Ramsay name.
Directly across from the high school, across the highway named for Tom Ramsay, is the Law Office of Landon W. Ramsay. Landon's dad, Lanny, was a judge here in Franklin County from 1971-75, then became a justice for decades in the Eighth Judicial District overseeing Franklin, Delta and Hopkins counties. Will Ramsay, Lanny's other son, has been the district attorney for the Eighth District since 2013.
Landon and Will are Baylor men. Both graduated from Baylor as undergrads and then from Baylor Law School. And Leigh Anne Ramsay, Landon Ramsay's wife, is listed in Baylor's football media guide from 2014-16 as assistant director of campus recruiting under Briles, a position generally responsible for things like coordinating recruits' visits, organizing visiting players' schedules for game days and other special events.
At that same time, Landon worked as a prosecutor at the McLennan County Criminal District Attorney's Office in Waco. Michael Landon Ramsay -- of the Facebook post -- is a cousin of Landon's. Leigh Anne, Landon and Will Ramsay did not answer queries from ESPN about Briles' hiring.
"If he did what he was accused of, it would be a big problem in our family," Tom Ramsay said. "But we don't think he's guilty of anything."
Tax forms filed by Baylor in 2016 revealed Briles was paid about $6.19 million per season, which would have made him the highest-paid coach in the Big 12. Briles' two-year contract at Mount Vernon will pay him $82,000 a year as football coach and athletic director.
That penance isn't good enough for Lewis, who remains appalled that Briles will be walking the halls of the high school, which has about 450 students.
Greg and Shannon Ostertag renovated historic general store M.L. Edwards & Co. in Mount Vernon's downtown square. Dave Wilson/ESPN
"I don't feel like he's coming here to pay the price," Lewis said. "We're paying the price for his redemption. We're going to be used as a stepping stone to restart his career. And the superintendent thought it was a good idea for Mount Vernon to be that stepping stone."
McCullough certainly has seen steady support, after the initial announcement and during the onslaught from outsiders in the past month.
"I believe our community is going to support this decision, and we are going to wrap our arms around this," McCullough told KCEN-TV in Austin. "I do not foresee us walking away from Art Briles."
"Art Briles, to me, forfeited the privilege of coaching," Tracy said. "I just don't think, based on what happened, he should coach again. The idea of having Briles with young, impressionable kids is ludicrous."
McCullough said he understands the scrutiny and is willing to face the discussion.
"This is a small town. My door is always open and, chances are, you'll bump into me or a school trustee at a school function, church or the grocery store on a pretty regular basis," he said. "We take great pride in our community and in our schools, and we strive to be responsive and maintain an open flow of information with this community."
Tom Ramsay agreed and thinks the town can patch things up.
"I really think honestly that Mount Vernon will pull together," he said. "I've never seen it not pull together."
A few assistant coaches are in place and already at work getting ready for the season. Briles' Italian league team finished its season this past Saturday, clearing the way for his arrival in Mount Vernon. But Lewis thinks the damage has already been done.
"When I was a kid and we'd travel, anytime anyone would ask my dad where we're from, my dad would say, 'Do you know 'Dandy' Don Meredith?" Lewis said. "It was a source of pride. I just can't imagine any father in an elevator now saying, 'Do you know Art Briles?'"
She said the message to those who are at odds with the administration has been, "Get over it. Get with it. It's happening."
Right now, there's one thing the pro-Briles and anti-Briles contingent can agree on: It's absolutely unthinkable that, in 2019, Art Briles would be a high school football coach in this small town.
