AUSTIN, Tex. — Breaking months of public silence, the former Baylor football coach Art Briles said Thursday that he had not covered up sexual violence by his players or tried to obstruct any investigations tied to the assault scandal at Baylor, the nation’s largest Baptist university.
Briles released a one-page letter saying he could no longer remain silent and defending himself against allegations that he had ignored incidents of assault and run a football program whose members considered themselves above the rules. The letter came a day after the Texas Rangers, the state’s elite criminal investigation unit, said it had opened a preliminary probe into how Baylor handled assault reports over several years.