The CFL and Hamilton Tiger-Cats yesterday "reversed an earlier decision to hire disgraced" former Baylor coach Art Briles after a day of "withering criticism from their fans and media from across North America," according to a front-page piece by Drew Edwards of the HAMILTON SPECTATOR. The team and the league "issued a joint statement" just after 9:15pm ET announcing the move. Earlier in the day, Ticats CEO Scott Mitchell "defended the decision to hire Briles," who had been "added to the staff of new head coach June Jones." Reaction on social media was "almost universally critical of the Ticats' decision." One of the team's most prominent sponsors, Hamilton-based Barry's Jewellers, "issued a statement along with a pledge to donate to the Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton." Mitchell said that the league had been "aware of the team's interest in Briles before his addition was announced." But the CFL issued a statement late yesterday afternoon that "seemed to indicate it was trying to exert pressure on the team to reconsider" (HAMILTON SPECTATOR, 8/29). In Toronto, Bruce Arthur reports the CFL "wasn’t sure it could block a coaching appointment." The league "can and has refused to register player contracts." But sources said that the only way CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie could "block the hire would be if he decided the move brought the league into disrepute." Even then, the CFL "wasn’t sure it would hold weight." So the league "went with old-fashioned diplomacy instead, arguing and leaning and persuading into the evening, and saved the team from themselves" (TORONTO STAR, 8/29).
CHECK YOUR TONE: NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto wrote Ambrosie believed Briles' employment was a "very bad idea that needed to be halted," and "so it was." Ambrosie thus did what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell "hates doing -- acting swiftly to fix an obvious failure in social comprehension" (NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com, 8/28). In Canada, Scott Radley writes the saga with Briles was a "massive blast of tone-deaf arrogance from a franchise that might have thought it would be engaging its base with a clever hire, but instead enraged it." That they "turned tail later in the evening and announced he wouldn't be coming after all doesn't really change much or make the team look better." In fact, it "doesn't help at all." It is "either a lack of awareness in how poorly this would be received here and elsewhere or hubris that it wouldn't matter." The "fact that Mitchell says the front office had been thinking about this for weeks is even more shocking." This "wasn't a split-second decision that you could chalk up to a momentary lapse in judgment." They "thought this through and still concluded it was a good idea." Radley: "How anyone in a business that relies on public support and goodwill could've possibly thought a man carrying this kind of baggage wouldn't elicit this kind of response is a head-scratcher" (HAMILTON SPECTATOR, 8/29).
BACKLASH STRONG: USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes there "might be some willing to turn a blind eye, but it’s the opinion of the people who control the purse strings that matters, and callous indifference to sexual assault tends to make them queasy." What happened with the Ticats "ought to be a lesson to anyone who thinks they’re strong enough to shoulder Briles’ baggage" (USA TODAY, 8/29). The NATIONAL POST's Scott Stinson writes the Ticats' initial decision was a "bizarre, confounding choice of a coach to help lead a turnaround." Stinson: "Which everyone involved apparently realized the more they tried to defend it" (NATIONAL POST, 8/29). ESPN's Will Cain said the fact that a job "can be offered and rescinded in less than 24 hours" reveals that the "entire process is a complete lack of backbone, either on the behalf of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats or the CFL in general.” ESPN’s Max Kellerman said there was "glaring oversight on the part of the CFL team and I think that the public backlash is a justifiable reaction to that." ESPN's Paul Finebaum: "How can you do due diligence on Art Briles and not hear everything they heard the moment that was announced? I just think they were trying to sneak this one across the border. It blew up in their face, I don't know if there was interference from the CFL commissioner, assuming there really is such a thing, but he should have never gotten the job” (“First Take,” ESPN, 8/29). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg: “I had thought if he was ever going to work in football again, it would have to be at the professional level. I couldn't have seen a college bringing him back so now with this, I think it’s pretty clear he will not work again” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 8/29).
TWITTER REAX: Notable social media reactions yesterday commended the CFL for stepping in, with the Toronto Star's Arthur writing, "Good on the CFL and Randy Ambrosie." Regina-based CJME-AM Saskatchewan Roughriders reporter Arielle Zerr wrote Briles' hire "never should have happened, never should have even been considered and it's something I still can't fathom." The Edmonton Journal's Terry Jones: "Randy Ambrosie showing real commissioner leadership." Sportnet's Arash Madani: "Much respect to those at Barry's Jewellers in Hamilton. They were a significant part of ensuring Art Briles would not coach the Tiger-Cats." TSN's David William Naylor: "It's the right call." Hamilton Spectator crime reporter Susan Clairmont wrote she "cannot forgive" the Ticats for the Briles hire.
