Baylor has named Temple’s Matt Rhule the football program’s next head coach, according to a tweet from an official Baylor account.
Rhule will head to Waco coming off a historic two-year stint at Temple, during which the program won 20 games -- the most over a two-year span in school history. The Owls won the AAC Championship in 2016.
OFFICIAL: We have our new Head Football Coach. Welcome to Matt Rhule and his family. #SicEm 🏈
📝 https://t.co/PSK4tvRjrS pic.twitter.com/5hlVcvEK8c
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) December 6, 2016“We could not be more excited to welcome Matt, Julie and their children to the Baylor Family,” said Baylor Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mack Rhoades, in a press release posted to the University website. “When we set out on our search for a new leader of our football program, we wanted a coach who shared our values, who had demonstrated success, who showed a true commitment to the overall student-athlete and who we believed could lead Baylor to a national championship. We found all of that and more in Matt and I know that he will be a perfect fit with the Baylor Family.”
He’ll take over a program mired in a sexual assault scandal that cost former head coach Art Briles his job and led to the resignation of athletic director Ian McCaw, as well as the demotion and eventual resignation of former university president Ken Starr.
Independent law firm Pepper Hamilton revealed systemic Title IX shortcomings at Baylor that included an apparent cover-up of several sex assaults on campus -- as many as 19 involving football players. Four of those incidents were reported gang rapes.
On Monday, a Baylor alumni group called for an independent investigation of the events at the university, calling for full transparency from the board of regents.
The football team, led this year by interim head coach Jim Grobe, lost its last six games of the season after a 6-0 start.
The tough sledding could continue, too, as Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman reports the Bears have just one commitment in the 2017 recruiting class.
Rhule has coached in several assistant coaching capacities at several schools. He spent six years with Temple before a one-year stint in the NFL with the New York Giants. He returned to Temple for his first head coaching gig from 2013-2016.
“I am truly honored and humbled to join the Baylor Family,” said Rhule, “and I can’t thank President Garland and Mack Rhoades enough for this incredible opportunity. Baylor is a tremendous institution with a history of football success and I know the passion that so many have for the Bears will help bring the community together to reach even greater heights. I am excited to get started.”
