WACO, Texas (AP) – Baylor’s assistant football coaches have disputed claims by school regents that former coach Art Briles knew of a gang rape involving a player.
Thirty-three assistant coaches and staff members issued a statement on Twitter on Friday expressing their support for Briles, who was fired in May, The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/2fs7aJs ) reported. It was the first time the coaches had spoken publicly about the series of sexual assault claims at Baylor, some involving former football players.
Baylor regent David Harper and three other regents met with the newspaper’s editorial board on Thursday, and Harper said Briles knew of the allegations of at least one gang rape.
But in their statement, the coaches said the alleged victim had reported an incident to her sport’s head coach, who then reported it to ex-athletic director Ian McCaw. The coaches and staff members claim Briles wasn’t told for another nine months and that Briles told the victim’s coach to report the matter to police and to “prosecute the players if there was any wrongdoing.”
The statement also said that the victim’s coach had indicated that Briles “handled the matter honorably and with the serious attention it deserved.”