The Art Briles Era

Well, I'm still not 100% sold, but I must admit, I did like what I saw in the press conference.

Taking Singletary out of the equation, I like what I see in Art Briles. I've been making posts along with reading a lot of them on various websites. It seems like there is a lot of opinions, pro and con, regarding Briles. Most of the people who seem to be familiar with Briles really think Baylor made a good move. Now, with that being said, I will still believe that Singletary should have been the one. I am holding Ian McCaw responsible for screwing it up. However, since we don't have a choice, I WILL get on the Briles Bandwagon.

He has come up through the ranks and been successful at each level. He took a Stephenville HS team that had not made the playoffs in 37 years to being a powerhouse. 4 Texas state championships in 12 years of coaching there. A UHouston team that only won 8 games in 3 years to a bowl game in his first year. It seems like he is a motivator, which is definitely what we need. He is a Christian, which of course, fits in at Baylor. But, it appears he does things clean and correctly.

Apparently, he is good at adapting to a team's strengths, not trying to fit square pegs into round holes. He is very offense-oriented, and does his own play calling. I think that one of the stats said he led a Houston team to have a 1,000 yard rusher, a 1,000 yd receiver, and a 3,000 yd passer on one team, which has never happened in the NCAA before. A multi-dimensional offense, no doubt. Houston was 4th in Offense this year.

Even though he may not have the 'Wow' factor that Singletary has, I guess he is a real good recruiter. That is something we probably need most of all. He is a former head of the Texas HS Coaches Assoc, and has a lot of respect among HS coaches throughout the state. He already has good in-roads for recruiting. One thing that I didn't realize until yesterday, is that this looks like it is going to be a package deal. Briles had a verbal commitment to UHouston from HS QB Robert Griffin. It was alluded to in the press conference, but without mentioning names. I guess he IS switching his commitment to Baylor now. Rivals has him as a 4-star recruit and has him listed as the #3 Dual-Threat QB in the country. That's COUNTRY, boys! Holy Crap! One of the best quarterbacks in the country coming to good 'ole BU. I liked what Szymanski did against the smaller teams, but he didn't do squat against the big boys. I don't think he is the answer. This Griffin kid could probably come in and start as a true Freshman.

So, to wrap up this 'short' post, I am starting to warm up to Briles. I will probably always have Singletary in the back of my mind. (I hope I never meet Ian McCaw since it will be too hard to resist telling him my opinion.) However, I do think we got the best of what was available. I think Briles WILL improve this team. I think he will be a good fit at Baylor. And, yes, I will be supportive of Briles. But, hopefully, he will surprise me and prove me wrong and take us to the Big 12 Championship. Always hoping!

Sic 'em Bears!

What the F#&@!?!

I can't believe the news I've been reading over the past few days. I figured Singletary would have had his press conference by now. Instead, we are wondering what has been going on. It's hard to know, exactly, what has been truth or rumor. But, it appears that they botched the job (IMHO). I have fired off e-mails and even made some posts. We need to be heard... and quickly.

I thought this summed up my opinion pretty well. The following is a post I made a few minutes ago on the Waco Trib's website:

"President John Lilley needs to step in and hire Mike Singletary. As far as I can see, I think Ian McCaw has done a fine job up until this point. But, let's face it, none of the winning coaches in other programs have been recruited and hired because of Ian McCaw. It appears that he has failed with Baylor's most important coaching position.

In my opinion, he has dropped the ball big-time with Mike Singletary. Here you have a respected alum that loves Baylor. He is a Christian. He WILL have the head job of an NFL team in the near future. He would vault us into the upper elite as far as recruiting. He is a motivational speaker (something our team could really use right now)! He would make fund-raising for the university a MUCH easier job for everyone from President Lilley to the Athletic Department to the Alumni Association.

I am trying to figure out how Ian McCaw has failed to have Singletary hired by now. Singletary has a love for Baylor and it's football program and even has one of his own sons playing on the team already! Hiring Mike should be like trying to get a hungry dog to take a cookie. Ian McCaw couldn't even get it done in a 5 HOUR meeting!

Alumni, donors, and fans of all ages are getting fed up with mediocre results. President Lilley needs to step in before it's too late and we are stuck for another 5+ years and in a deeper rut."
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Well, that's my opinion. Other candidates? Art Briles: has done decent things in Houston and has a good recruiting base in Texas. I think he could bring us up to respectability, but not much further. Fedora: I think he has done good things at Oklahoma State. He already recruits Texas and he was an assistant coach here at Baylor in the 1990's. Houston Nutt: Oops, too late. Patterson at TCU: he won't move over. Tommy Bowden: why would he even consider?

I think they need to start kissing Singletary's a$$. Ian McCaw shouldn't try to dictate how Singletary coaches. He should just hire him and get out of the way. Hopefully, it's not too late.