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MOUNT VERNON (Texas) – A school superintendent from East Texas defended the selection process and decision to hire Art Briles to run a high school program three years after Baylor's dismissal , twice breeder, by a scandal of sexual assault.
Jason McCullough, director of the Mount Vernon Independent School District, said Tuesday in an interview with several TV reporters that the small community district "best examined coach Briles" and felt the process "was the one that our community would be proud and we know we did our job. "
When asked if this process included talking to any of the victims or to the NCAA officials, Mr. McCullough replied that the district had not done it.
The Superintendent stated in a subsequent written statement that the District had conducted "an extensive due diligence process", which included reviewing reports and interviewing former supervisors, independent references and Briles. .
"We believe that coach Briles has sincerely expressed his remorse over what happened at Baylor while he was working there," McCullough said in a statement in which he said that He had a daughter and two granddaughters. "[We] would never hire anyone if we did not trust that they would adhere to high standards of conduct and student safety. "
Briles, 63, is part of a team of professionals in Italy since last year. In the United States, he had not been able to get a coaching position since his dismissal after an external investigation revealed in May 2016 that Baylor had mismanaged for many years many allegations of Sexual assault from students, including footballers.
South Mississippi coach Jay Hopson wanted to hire Briles as an offensive coordinator in February, but the school's sports director dismissed the idea. Briles was hired as an assistant by Hamilton in the Canadian Football League in 2017, but after a public reaction, the Tiger-Cats quickly canceled the move.
Mount Vernon announced the recruitment of Briles Friday night as part of the Memorial Day weekend. The announcement was made the same night as the high school graduation ceremony in the city of less than 3,000 residents located about 100 miles east of Dallas. The district board of directors approved a two-year contract for Briles.
McCullough said that he was looking for a man of faith with morality, integrity and character. That's how Briles was described by people they talked to during their process.
"It's the man we plan to invest in our players, our students and our community," McCullough told reporters Tuesday.
The Pepper Hamilton firm's Baylor investigation revealed that at least 17 women had been sexually assaulted by 19 footballers.
Briles insisted that he was not hiding information about assaults by players and that he was encouraging women involved in alleged incidents to come to the police.
Baylor is still waiting for the outcome of an NCAA survey on school conduct.
Prior to college, Briles won four Texas state championships in Stephenville in the 1990s, the last in 1999, before joining Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Briles was head coach at the University of Houston from 2003 to 2007 and then at Baylor.
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