Baylor coaches use infamous Art Briles hashtag to push back on a story about a dismissed player

You’ll recall that Baylor, at the height of an institutional sexual assault scandal earlier this year, fired head football coach Art Briles.

In the days before Briles lost his job in disgrace, he posted in May from his now-defunct Twitter account a graphic touting his program’s academic success, hashtagged #TruthDontLie.

(Hat tip to USA Today for screenshotting this at the time.)

The tweet never made great sense, because Briles and his staff weren’t under public fire for their handling of their players’ academics. They were under public fire for their treatment of sexual assault and violence allegations against those players. That’s a big difference, and this tweet was, at best, exceptionally tone-deaf.

So a couple of Baylor coaches tweeting at the exact same minute on Monday night a #TRUTHDONTLIE hashtag is, at best, exceptionally odd.

Here’s a sampling in screenshots from 6:46 p.m. ET, in case the tweets eventually wind up scrubbed.

Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, who’s Art’s son:

Passing game coordinator Jeff Lebby, Briles’ son-in-law:

Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett:

Linebackers coach Jim Gush:

And many more.

In a vacuum, the coaches appear to be pushing back against a story about the departure of defensive lineman Jeremy Faulk, a former Baylor transfer who was questioned, he said, but not charged in a sexual assault case.

Baylor said in a statement it dismissed Faulk in June for a conduct code violation, with Grobe and the school’s interim athletic director making the decision. Grobe insists he wasn’t involved, though, and much of his staff is amplifying that message on Twitter.

The use of a favored Briles hashtag is the latest example of the shadow the former coach continues to cast over Baylor.

Kendal Briles wrote “CAB” (common shorthand for “Coach Art Briles”) on the backs of his hands during the Bears’ season opener, and Art Briles watched from the stands during a Baylor game at Rice – the same night Rice’s band tried, distastefully, to poke fun at Baylor’s sexual assault enforcement.