{"id":38324,"date":"2019-08-06T17:43:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T17:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=38324"},"modified":"2019-08-06T17:43:18","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T17:43:18","slug":"coach-brings-checkered-past-to-the-field-at-mount-vernon-hs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=38324","title":{"rendered":"Coach brings checkered past to the field at Mount Vernon HS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Blogger’s Note<\/strong>: This blog item was published originally on KETR-FM’s website. I want to repost it for High Plains Blogger readers as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

School is about to begin in Texas, which means that football season also is nearly upon us. I don\u2019t know about you, but I might be looking with just a little bit more interest than usual at Mount Vernon High School, waiting to see how the team performs in its first season under the coaching leadership of a guy who \u2013 although he is a brilliant coach \u2013 shouldn\u2019t have this job.<\/p>\n

Art Briles is the new head football coach at Mount Vernon. You remember this guy, right? He once coached at Baylor University. He led the Bears to a lot of victories during his time in Waco.<\/p>\n

But then he got into trouble by looking the other way<\/a> while his players were raping women<\/a> all over the university campus. Some of the players faced criminal charges; many of them were convicted. Briles, though, claimed to not know what his players were doing.<\/p>\n

Well, the story got away from everyone. It swallowed up Baylor University. It consumed Waco. Briles became the face of a scandal<\/a> of which he lost control.<\/p>\n

Baylor University Chancellor Kenneth Starr \u2013 whose investigation into sexual misconduct at an entirely different level led to President Clinton\u2019s impeachment in 1998 \u2013 was forced to resign. Baylor Athletics Director Ian McCaw also resigned. The Baylor regents then fired Briles.<\/a><\/p>\n

Briles wandered in the coaching wilderness \u2013 in Canada and in Europe \u2013 for a time before Mount Vernon High came calling.<\/p>\n

The Mount Vernon Independent School District\u2019s decision to hire this guy remains a difficult tonic for many Northeast Texans to swallow. I don\u2019t live in the Mount Vernon district, but I\u2019m not terribly far away, living in Princeton. Yes, Briles\u2019s hiring sticks in my craw, too.<\/p>\n

The rationale for hiring Briles seems to track along two lines: He deserves a second chance and, perhaps more importantly to some, he\u2019s a heck of a football coach.<\/p>\n

I maintain the notion that Mount Vernon ISD could have found any number of equally<\/em><\/i> competent football coaches who aren\u2019t tainted with the scandal that has stained Briles\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

I have no personal interest in Mount Vernon Tigers\u2019 football fortunes. I suppose I should cheer for the young athletes who will work hard to compete on the field under Briles\u2019s leadership. However, this coach\u2019s presence on the sideline taints Mount Vernon\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Is that fair? Do I intend to punish the young men who play football to the best of their ability? No. I just cannot set aside the hideous circumstance that cost the coach his job at a Division I university in the first place.<\/p>\n

If Mount Vernon wins a lot of football games in the years to come, how can we measure the cost \u2013 if not the damage<\/em><\/i> \u2013 to the school district\u2019s reputation in hiring this guy?<\/p>\n\n

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Blogger’s Note: This blog item was published originally on KETR-FM’s website. I want to repost it for High Plains Blogger readers as well. School is about to begin in Texas, which means that football season also is nearly upon us. I don\u2019t know about you, but I might be looking with just a little bit … Continue reading Coach brings checkered past to the field at Mount Vernon HS<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[470,8842,2659,8436,8651,3341],"class_list":["post-38324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news","tag-art-briles","tag-baylor-sex-scandal","tag-kenneth-starr","tag-ketr-fm","tag-mount-vernon-high-school","tag-npr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38325,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38324\/revisions\/38325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}