Art Briles

College coach infobox
Name = Art Briles


Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1955|12|3
Birthplace = flagicon|Texas Rule, Texas
DateOfDeath =
Sport = Football
College = Baylor
Conference = Big 12
Title = Head coach
Contract = $1,200,000
CurrentRecord = 2–2
OverallRecord = 36–30 (College)
172–42–4 (High school)
BowlRecord = 0–3
Awards =
Championships =
CFbDWID = 2832
Player = Y
Years = 1974-1977
Team = Houston
Position = WR
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1979
1980-1983
1984-1985
1986-1987
1988-1999
2000-2002
2003-2007
2008-"present"
CoachTeams = Sundown HS (Assist.)
Sweetwater HS (Assist.)
Hamlin HS
Georgetown HS
Stephenville HS
Texas Tech (RB coach)
Houston
Baylor
FootballHOF =

Arthur Ray Briles (born December 3, 1955) is an American football coach, who is currently the head coach at Baylor University. Formerly, he was the head coach at the University of Houston.

Playing career

A native of Rule, Texas, Briles attended Rule High School, where he was coached by his father. Playing quarterback and earning all-state honors, Briles accepted a scholarship offer by Bill Yeoman at the University of Houston. There Briles switched to wide receiver and played three seasons, including the 1977 Cotton Bowl. His parents and aunt died in a car crash on their way to see him play in a game in October 1976. After finishing the 1976–77 academic year, Briles left Houston and transferred to Texas Tech to complete his bachelor's degree, which he earned in 1979.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Car crash puts things in perspective for Art Briles |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls05/news/story?id=2268890 |work=ESPN |publisher= |date=2005-12-23 |accessdate=2008-08-05 ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Baylor coach Briles suffered loss of parents early |url=http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/01/27/0127briles.html |work= |publisher= |date= |accessdate= ] He went on to earn a master's degree in education at Abilene Christian University before entering coaching.

Coaching career

High school

Briles began his coaching career as an assistant at Sundown High School. From 1980 to 1983, he served as an assistant at Sweetwater High School. At age 28, he became head coach at 2A Hamlin High School, where he coached from 1984 to 1985. He guided the team to a 27–1–1 record including a 35-19 loss to Electra High School in the 1985 state semifinals. His instant success caught the attention of bigger schools, so Briles left Hamlin for 5A Georgetown High School in 1986, where he had a difficult two-year span in the school's first two seasons at the highest classification in Texas high school football. Briles left the school in 1987 with a 4–15–1 overall record.

In 1988, he took over head coaching duties at 4A Stephenville High School in Stephenville, Texas, a school that was playing in the same area as state powerhouse Brownwood High School and had not reached the playoffs in football since 1952. After a 4–5–1 season in 1989, Briles' Stephenville squads made the playoffs in 1990 and ever since. During Briles' tenure they won four state championships, including back-to-back titles in 1993 and 1994, and then again in 1998 and 1999. Coincidentally, in the 1993 and '94 state finals Briles' Stephenville squads faced La Marque, then coached by Briles' defensive coordinator at Houston, Alan Weddell.

Although Stephenville's offense was devastating throughout the 1990s, Briles shifted his offensive scheme from a running game in the early 90s to a passing game in the late 90s. Stephenville's first two state championship teams scored 89 touchdowns rushing in 1993, and 96 touchdowns rushing in 1994, which was second and third all-time in the nation, respectively, only behind Big Sandy's national record 114 touchdowns rushing from the 1975 season. In the late 90s, Briles adapted the spread offense and today is one of the coaches credited for introducing it to Texas high school football. [cite news |first=Jeff |last=Osborne |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Briles built Stephenville into football powerhouse |url=http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/content/sports/college/2007/11/30/11302007wacSHSbriles.html |work=Waco Tribune |publisher= |date=2007-11-30 |accessdate= ] His 1998 team posted 8,664 yards of total offense, breaking the 73-year old national record 8,588 yeards originally established by Pine Bluff High School in 1925.

Briles was also known for developing quarterbacks, sending six of his former players to Division I colleges, including Branndon Stewart, Kevin Kolb and his son Kendal Briles.

College

Briles left Stephenville after the 1999 season to join Mike Leach's staff at Texas Tech. While serving as running backs coach, Briles improved Texas Tech's rushing average every year from 66.4 yards a game in his first year to 99.6 yards a game in 2002. He also coached all-conference backs and later NFL players Ricky Williams, Shaud Williams, and Taurean Henderson.

In 2003, Briles was hired as head coach at the University of Houston, where he took over a program that had an 8–26 record under the previous coach, Dana Dimel. The Cougars went 0–11 just two years before Briles's arrival. In his first season, Briles led the Cougars to a 7–5 record, including a 48–54 triple overtime loss to Hawaiokinai, in the Sheraton Hawaiokinai Bowl.

After a 3–8 season in 2004, Briles guided the Cougars to a 6–6 season and another bowl game in 2005. In 2006, he led the Cougars to a 10–4 record and the Conference USA Championship that was played on December 1, 2006. The Cougars won the game 34-20 and it was the school's second C-USA Championship (the first came in 1996, in the school's inaugural season in the C-USA).

In 2007, the Cougars finished second in the Conference USA West Division to Todd Graham's Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Houston was invited to the Texas Bowl, which was played December 28 2007 at Reliant Stadium. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=UH accepts bid to play in Texas Bowl |url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5327194.html |work=Houston Chronicle |publisher= |date= |accessdate= ] It was Houston's fourth bowl appearance in five years. However, Briles did not coach the game for the Cougars.

Briles interviewed for the Baylor head coach position on November 27, 2007, and was hired the next day. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Houston's Briles set to interview at Baylor |url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5330659.html |work=Houston Chronicle |publisher= |date= |accessdate= ] [cite news |first=Brian |last=Davis |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Briles the choice to bring Baylor football back |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/112907dnspobaylorlede.49c68c4e.html |work=Dallas Morning News |publisher= |date=2007-11-29 |accessdate= ] At Baylor, Briles took over a program that has not had a winning season since 1995 and has gone 35–101 since joining the Big 12 Conference.

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Houston Cougars
conf = Conference USA
startyear = 2003
endyear = 2007CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 2003
name = Houston
overall = 7–6
conference = 4–4
confstanding = T–4th
bowlname = Hawaiokinai
bowloutcome = L
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 2004
name = Houston
overall = 3–8
conference = 3–5
confstanding = T–3rd
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 2005
name = Houston
overall = 6–6
conference = 4–4
confstanding = T–3rd
bowlname = Fort Worth
bowloutcome = L
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Entry
championship = conference
year = 2006
name = Houston
overall = 10–4
conference = 7–1
confstanding = 1st
bowlname = Liberty
bowloutcome = L
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2007
name = Houston
overall = 8–4*
conference = 6–2
confstanding = 2nd (West)
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Houston
overall = 34–28
confrecord = 24–16*left before the bowl game.CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Baylor Bears
conf = Big 12
startyear = 2008
endyear = presentCFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2008
name = Baylor
overall = 2–2
conference = 0–0
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Baylor
overall = 2–2
confrecord = 0–0CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 36–30


bcs = no
poll = no

References

External links

* [http://uhcougars.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/briles_art00.html Art Briles' profile page on UHcougars.com]