After a third consecutive bowl appearance in 2012, it has become very apparent in Waco and beyond that the savior of Baylor football was not Robert Griffin III, but head coach Art Briles.
Briles had come to Waco via Houston in 2008. From 2002-07, he had transformed Houston from a Conference USA creampuff into a multi-season league champion with an explosive spread offense that had produced standouts quarterbacks like Kevin Kolb and Case Keenum. From 1999-2001, Briles had learned the college game under spread offense patriarch Mike Leach as Leach’s running backs coach while adding his own contributions to the Texas Tech run game. This drastically improved the Tech attack.
Briles’ own history as a football coach goes back to the 80′s when he got started in Texas High School football, the hotbed of modern offensive creativity. Briles began as a Wishbone/Veer offense guru before embracing the possibilities of the spread passing game in the 90′s and transforming Stephenville HS into a Texas 4A state power.
These roots are essential to understanding how Briles has come to develop the concepts of his particular brand of the spread offense.
…
After struggling through Griffin’s freshman year and sophomore campaign, which was marred by a knee injury that put him on the bench, Baylor exploded into prominence in 2010 with a 7-6 record that included a win at struggling Texas. Then 2011 happened, and opposing coaches descended into Big 12 Hell, a world of burning sulfur, prodding demons, weekly shootouts, and a Baylor football program that could no longer be penciled in as a win, even for Bob Stoops.
Full Article at: Football Study Hall
