Even though a 2016 investigation conducted by an outside law firm hired by Baylor revealed that leaders of the school’s football program, on several occasions, covered up instances of sexual violence, an N.C.A.A. committee did not find Briles guilty of violating its rules.
Briles had not worked in college football since 2016 until Grambling State’s surprising decision to bring him onto its staff. He had recently been the head football coach at Mount Vernon High School in Texas before stepping down in 2020.
Grambling State, a historically Black college in Louisiana that plays in the Football Championship Subdivision, did not release an official statement about Briles’s hiring and had said it would not discuss its reason for bringing him back to college football, according to Brian Howard, a spokesman for the athletic department.
The school faced backlash on social media and from prominent figures in college sports, including Doug Williams, who starred at Grambling State and became the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl in 1988 with Washington.
Williams, who served two stints as the university’s head football coach, told the Washington Post that he did not support the hire.