Art Briles-Led Texas High School Team Averts Transfer Controversy After Several Players Confirmed

UPDATE

Two of the players who transferred to Mount Vernon, led by former Baylor head coach Art Briles, have been declared eligible by the district executive committee.

The controversy over their eligibility initially gained national headlines due to the sketchy past of Briles, and the balance between competition in athletics and academics at the high school level. In Texas, high school football rules all, and Briles remains an influential figure.

It's hard to break a bad habit, and disgraced former Baylor head coach Art Briles is allegedly back to his slimy ways at the high school level.

Despite leading the Bears to a few BCS bowls on the strength of quarterbacks like Robert Griffin III and Bryce Petty, Briles was justly fired after the university's sexual assault cover-up scandal. While he has landed on his feet at Mt. Vernon High School in Texas, it didn't take long before Briles' methods drew the ire of administration.

If you're surprised by this, you clearly didn't follow Briles' story close enough.

Briles' ringers he brought in have worked like a charm, as the Mt. Vernon Tigers have cruised to a 3-0 start. They've scored 151 points in three games, including 57 in a shutout win over Canton High School. Keep in mind, they won just nine of 15 games last year.

Briles is no stranger to controversy, and high school football in Texas is about as cutthroat as it gets, so he's likely not going to lose his job if he keeps winning, which is more an indictment of the Texas high school system than anything else.