Maybe there was a delay in the CFL's processing of the background check.
Or maybe the Hamilton Tiger-Cats just couldn't get ahold of Art Briles' references.
But once the Canadian Football League team announced it had hired the exiled ex-Baylor football coach Monday, social media caught fire.
This was the same man who was dismissed from his college job for the handling of allegations of sexual assault, including his own players. Baylor fired Briles in May 2016, and he had been out of work since.
Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell sure stepped in it in trying to justify Briles' hire:
"We just thought it was a very serious situation, but we also felt that after talking to dozens of people, people we trust, people we admire, that Art Briles is a good man that was caught in a very bad situation," Mitchell said.