Art Briles’ coaching staff will be at a lesser strength than anticipated this coming weekend.
Following up on a fair amount of speculation of late, Baylor confirmed Friday night that offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles (pictured, right) and wide receivers coach Tate Wallis have been suspended for Saturday’s game against FCS Lamar. The suspensions were triggered by “an NCAA violation related to evaluations of prospective student-athletes during the spring 2015 recruiting period.” What specific recruiting bylaw was violated wasn’t detailed by the private university.
The suspension will not only keep Wallis and Briles, the son of the BU head coach, off the sidelines/out of the coaching box, it will also keep them out of McLane Stadium during the duration of the game.
“We want to stay within the NCAA’s guidelines and are taking this action in accordance with the NCAA’s new penalty structure,” the head coach said in a statement. “Kendal and Tate have cooperated fully throughout this process and we look forward to having them resume their coaching duties next week. We will continue to work closely with our compliance staff to ensure that future violations are avoided.”
Kendal Briles was in his first season as the Bears’ coordinator/quarterbacks coach, assuming those duties when Phil Montgomery left to become the head coach at Tulsa. It’s assumed the father will call the plays in the game against Lamar, although that wasn’t specified in the release.
Wallis is in his sixth season as a part of the BU football program but first as an assistant coach.