WACO, Texas -- Art Briles entered the room flashing Baylor's
customary bear claw sign to cheering supporters, gave them a "Sic
'Em Bears" yell and started talking about winning games -- and
championships.
Still, Briles knows it's going to take a lot more than talk to
revive a Baylor program that has 12 straight losing seasons, all
since the Big 12 was formed.
"What we are going to do is bring Baylor back. ... We are going
to get bowl eligible, we are going to win the (Big 12) South, we're
going to win the Big 12 championship," Briles said. "Lip service
is easy, but we do have a plan. And we have a mission."
Briles was hired Wednesday by Baylor, which is hoping for him to
have the same kind of success he had reviving Houston the last five
seasons.
The Cougars (8-4) are preparing for their fourth bowl game since
Briles arrived, and won the Conference USA title last season.
Houston had only two winning records in the 12 years before that,
including 0-11 two seasons before Briles got there.
Briles replaces Guy Morriss, who was fired Nov. 18 after five
seasons with an 18-40 overall record and a 7-33 Big 12 mark.
Morriss' firing came the day after the Bears (3-9) lost their 12th
straight Big 12 game, 45-14 to Oklahoma State.
Briles got a seven-year contract that will pay him up to $1.8
million per season, including all incentives. Briles, who turns 52
Monday, had four years left on his Houston contract with a base
salary of $900,000 annually.
"Art Briles embodies all the characteristics that I was
seeking," athletic director Ian McCaw said.
Plus, Briles is a Texas native who won four Texas high school
championships in 12 seasons at Stephenville. He also spent three
years as a Texas Tech assistant before taking the Houston job.
"The Texas connection is essential," former Bears coach Grant
Teaff said after Briles' introduction. "Art is basically
Texas-grown, and he also has a great gift for handling situations.
He's very astute and he's a person that is very, very good
recruiting. Texas high school coaches really respect him."
Baylor's 12 consecutive losing seasons have come under four
coaches since Teaff left in 1992 after 128 victories and eight bowl
appearances in 21 seasons.
The Bears are the only Big 12 team without a bowl appearance
since the conference's inception in 1996. Only two teams from Bowl
Championship Series conferences have gone longer without a bowl,
but Indiana (7-5) is expected to play its first postseason game in
14 years. Vanderbilt (5-7) lost its season finale to miss making
its first bowl in 25 years.
"Once you've crossed a couple of bridges, at whatever
university or whatever level, there's always one or two more out
there to cross," Briles said. "And it's sure fun to walk on that
path that a lot of people haven't walked on."
After meeting with his players at Houston, and telling them that
he wouldn't be coaching them in their hometown Texas Bowl on Dec.
28, Briles met the Baylor players before being formally introduced.
"The thing I liked most hearing was that it's not a five-year
plan, it's not a seven-year plan, it's a five-minute plan," safety
Jordan Lake said. "We want to win now, and it starts now."
Briles was 34-28 in five seasons at Houston with only one losing
season.
Before going to Houston, where he was a four-year letterman as a
receiver and played in the 1976 Cotton Bowl, Briles spent three
seasons as running backs coach at Texas Tech. His previous head
coaching job had been at Stephenville, where he was 136-29-2 in 12
seasons and twice won back-to-back titles.
While Morriss didn't have any winning seasons, he had some
positive accomplishments at Baylor. That included the first Big 12
road victory, in 2005 at Iowa State, and in 2006 when the Bears won
three Big 12 games in the same season for the first time.
Briles was on Baylor's short list, along with Houston Nutt, who
resigned at Arkansas on Monday and was named Mississippi's new
coach Tuesday.
The leading candidate initially was Mike Singletary, the
assistant head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. But the Pro
Football Hall of Fame linebacker and Baylor icon took his name out
of consideration after a lengthy meeting with McCaw last week in
California.
"That doesn't matter. I might not have been my wife's No. 1
choice. All I know she has put up with me 29 years, fixin' to be
30," Briles said. "Mike, he's the man, so that made sense. But
I'm glad it turned out the way it did."