Art Briles, the ex-Baylor University football coach, was hired and fired in Canada in the span of day.
Briles was fired as Baylor coach in 2016 under a mounting sexual assault scandal that saw his players accused of committing 52 sexual assaults, Deadspin.com reported. The website said the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced they had hired Briles as an assistant Monday morning, only to reverse course by the evening.
Briles, 61, would have served under coach June Jones, who formerly coached at Hawaii and Southern Methodist University, The Washington Post reported. The Tiger-Cats are off to a 0-8 start this season in the CFL's Eastern Division and Jones took over as head coach last week for Kent Austin, according to the website 3DownNation.com.
"We made a large and serious mistake," Bob Young, owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats said in a statement released by the CFL office. "We want to apologize to our fans, corporate partners and the Canadian Football League.
"It has been a difficult season and we are searching for answers. This is clearly not one of them. We have listened, we are reviewing our decision-making processes and we will learn. We will go on. We want to thank our fans, partners and the CFL for their help and support," Young continued.
The CFL also issued an unattributed comment in the statement Monday.
"Art Briles will no longer be joining the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a coach. We came to this decision this evening following a lengthy discussion between the league and the Hamilton organization. We wish Mr. Briles all the best in his future endeavors," the league said.
An investigation of sexual assault claims at Baylor while Briles was there found that the school mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations, including some against football players, over several years, USA Today reported.
The investigation ultimately led to the departures of Baylor University president Kenneth Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw as well, the newspaper said.