Briles affirms: Didn’t know of allegations in 2014

• Paula Lavigne, ESPN Staff WriterOct 19, 2023, 09:20 PM ET

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  • Data expert and press reporter for ESPN’s Enterprise and Investigative Unit.
  • Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Structure Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy nominated, 2009.

WACO, Texas– Former Baylor football coach Art Briles testified Thursday that he had no understanding of the domestic violence claims made by a previous trainee versus one of his players in 2014 until she filed a suit 2 years later, although members of his staff learnt about those claims– and reports of other concerns– involving the former player.Briles is an accused in a Title IX and negligence trial in which Baylor alumna Dolores Lozano alleges being physically attacked by then-Bears player Devin Chafin in 2014. Baylor University and ex-athletic director Ian McCaw are also accuseds in the federal case.Lozano, now an elected justice of the peace in Harris County, Texas, reported that Chafin physically assaulted her three times in March and April 2014, after the two, who had been dating, argued over an abortion Lozano had previously that year.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Lozano alleges

that the university’s overall failure to implement Title IX and address sexual violence put her at danger for attack and that the university, Briles and McCaw failed to appropriately react to her report and triggered her to be subjected to more abuse by Chafin.Briles and McCaw initially appeared in court Thursday– the fourth day of statement– and did not answer questions about Lozano’s claims as they walked into the federal courthouse.Multiple Baylor females have actually submitted problems and suits against Baylor coming from the school’s total failures

to resolve reports of sexual violence and the 2016 findings by law firm Pepper Hamilton that discovered issues in numerous university departments. The findings highlighted particular problems with the football program and caused the shooting of Briles, suspension and ultimate resignation of McCaw and demotion of previous president Ken Starr, who died in 2022. Lozano’s is the only suit from that time to make it to trial, and it is unique because it names McCaw and Briles as individual defendants.During testimony, when it came to football facts, Briles rattled off information with accuracy, even inspecting an attorney when he said Baylor won the Big 12 champion in 2014 by keeping in mind the Bears had in fact shared that title with TCU.But for much of his testimony, Briles pleaded ignorance. He stated he had”no awareness”of Title IX when he started at Baylor in 2007 and didn’t get any Title IX training up until fall 2014.

When Lozano’s attorney began to question him on something in his 2014 book, “Beating Goliath,” which is written in first-person, Briles stated he didn’t know since he had not read the book.He likewise said he wasn’t acquainted with his 2017 character assassination suit versus 3 members of the board of regents, stating he “had a legal representative “and at one point he asked a lawyer for Lozano, Zeke Fortenberry,”Did the fit go through?” to which Fortenberry reacted,” You dismissed it.”As for Chafin, Briles stated he had not been aware of Chafin’s driving under the impact arrest in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 2012, for which strength and conditioning coach Kaz Kazadi had Chafin do extra workouts. Fortenberry also provided him with a letter– with Briles’signature– to the NCAA appealing an eligibility decision for Chafin.”I believe this has to do with some academic problems,”Briles said.” I would assume one of the scholastic advisors wrote this on Devin’s behalf and had me sign it. It’s way too thorough for something I would write.” Briles stated he may not be very conscious

of minor infractions by his players however that he would have understood any felony-level incident or significant claims. He stated much of the duty for discipline fell to Kazadi, who would subject

the players to additional exercises, hold them out of some activities and make them show up early, but he was unaware of any written policy.Fortenberry called 4 people in the football program who he stated understood about Lozano’s reported attacks in 2014, including Kazadi, McCaw, assistant coach Jeff Lebby and chaplain Wes Yeary. Briles stated not one of them notified him. When questioned by his own lawyer, Briles stated he initially

became aware of Lozano when she submitted her claim, which was in October 2016. “If all four of your employee learnt about it, should you have known about it?”Fortenberry asked.”Yes, sir,”Briles said.One of the findings from the Pepper Hamilton sexual assault investigations was that football had its own disciplinary system and acted”above the rules”of the school’s judicial affairs office.Briles stated there was”a little bit of a misconception “in between the football program and judicial affairs, being worried about players getting expelled for first-offense cannabis offenses or getting tossed out of trainee housing for other violations. However he stated the football program didn’t have a disciplinary system separate from the university.Briles stated he did “give a couple of student-athletes”the name of Waco lawyer Jonathan Sibley, who Briles had said offered his services to the program for any athletes who might require help.Fortenberry also provided Briles with text he had actually exchanged with coaches and other Baylor employees, the majority of whom had actually been revealed in the 2017 libel suit, in which he was reacting to other football players who were involved in criminal incidents.The numerous text existed as proof that Briles and others in the department tried to keep professional athletes away from judicial affairs, organize lawyers for them and keep their alleged criminal offenses under wraps.In one April 2011 message, Briles

texted with an assistant coach about a player who had actually received a ticket for minor drinking and he reacted, “Hopefully he’s under the radar “so nobody will recognize his name, and later,”simply attempting to keep him away from our judicial affairs folks.” Briles affirmed that

the player was a 19-year-old from”really minimal means “and he was fretted that a sanction from judicial affairs would cause him to lose his on-campus housing.At one point, Briles got emotional and paused for a long period of time before attempting to

answer a question, needing to pull out a tissue to dab at his eyes. He was being asked about earlier statement from McCaw, who said that in the days before Briles was fired in Might 2016, the ex-chairman of the Baylor board of regents stated that Briles was “going to take the fall “when the investigation findings were released.Throughout the

trial, Briles’attorneys have consistently asked Baylor regents and others if Briles breached any policy or actively tried to discourage anybody from reporting an assault or covering up an assault, and every response

has been no.In testimony earlier in the week, former regent J. Carey Gray stated Briles was not fired due to the fact that of any specific occurrence or action but due to the fact that the board did not feel he was the best individual to make the necessary culture changes to lead the board forward.An attorney for Baylor, while questioning Briles about a presentation utilized to teach athletes about how to be considerate to females, asked him,”Is this something you were trying to instill in your players?” Briles stated it was.” Do you acknowledge often that failed?”Briles reacted:”Yes.”