Baylor has hired former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe to replace Art Briles and lead its football program through a tumultuous time.
The school announced Monday that Grobe had been hired as the acting coach.
Briles was let go last week after the release of a report commissioned by the Waco, Texas, school that accused the successful coach of not responding to or inappropriately handling allegations of sexual assault and violence by members of his team.
Grobe, 64, has been out of coaching for two seasons. He spent 13 years with Wake Forest, leading the team to some of its best seasons. Grobe was 77-82, including an Atlantic Coast Conference title and Orange Bowl appearance in 2006. The Demon Deacons went to five bowl games under Grobe, half the school’s overall total.
He resigned after the 2013 season, his fifth straight at Wake Forest that ended with a losing record.
“It is an honor for me to have the opportunity to join the Baylor football program during this important time,” Grobe said in a statement released by the school.
“I am looking forward to getting to know and working with the coaches and players in the coming days, and I have great respect for Baylor as an institution and its long-standing heritage.
“As a coach, winning is important. At the same time, I want to assure the Baylor family that every decision we will make in this football program will be made with Baylor University, her students and our student-athletes in mind.”
This is a difficult time of the year to hire a football coach, especially at a university wracked by scandal reaching the president’s office.
There was speculation and unconfirmed reports following the move to dismiss Briles that Baylor would promote defensive coordinator Phil Bennett to interim coach.
Instead, the university beset with uncertainty after also demoting president Kenneth Starr and putting athletic director Ian McCaw on probation, decided to go outside the program for at least a temporary solution.
“Jim Grobe is the right leader at this time to move Baylor University and the football program forward,” McCaw said in a statement.
“Coach Grobe enjoys an impeccable reputation within the intercollegiate athletics community and is a man of great integrity and faith.”
It is still unclear how much of the current staff will remain at Baylor for the upcoming season. Briles’s son, Kendal, is Baylor’s offensive coordinator and Briles’ son-in-law, Jeff Lebby, is running backs coach.
While the report by the Pepper Hamilton law firm did not give details and specific names of other coaches involved in wrongdoing, the fact finding did state that staff members spoke directly to potential victims of sexual and violent crimes, discouraged them from reporting allegations and withheld information about allegations against football players from the university.
Art Briles was suspended with the intent to terminate. He was two years into a 10-year contract that paid more than $4 million annually.
In eight seasons at Baylor, Briles had turned the Bears into a Big 12 powerhouse after they languished at the bottom of the conference since joining in 1996.
Grobe is still an active member of the American Football Coaches Association, which is headquartered in Waco. He served an eight-year term (2006-13) as chair of the organization’s ethics committee. During that time, the AFCA was led by former longtime Baylor coach Grant Teaff.
Before taking over at Wake in 2001, Grobe coached Ohio University for six years.
In 1995 he took over a program that had not won more than four games in a single season the previous 12 years.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
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