Other than “returning to Texas,” I’ve not heard or read anything attributed to him as to why he wanted to leave AR for the same position here. Surely he had some sense that he’d be walking into a hornet’s nest with a segment of the TCU base.
He's coming back to a place that's 65 miles from where he grew up, joining a staff where he knows/has worked with pretty much everyone, and has known one or two of them for most of his life, and joining a conference that he's had a lot of success in that's mostly tied to the state he's played and worked in for the majority of his life. As others have said, this one was a no-brainer outside of the Briles/TCU angle that some of us diehards can't handle.
The "hornet's nest" with a segment of our fan base seems to be worth the risk for those in charge. As much as I can't stand Art, I get it. Don't think you can shun everyone on that Baylor staff for the rest of their lives based on what we know (as we've had Kaz and Buckles), and he and the others have been employed elsewhere for almost a decade (other than Art, rightfully). It was an obvious "good fit" with the staff we have, and I think he's definitely good at his job, so here we are. Just deal with it or take your ball and go home if you want to take some kind of moral stand, but it was pretty predictable. Like I've said, I think moral stands should've been taken over a year ago if you really had a problem with the Baylor happenings and not just the "Briles" name.
I think Kendal will be very good at this job, I have no concerns about Sonny, ADJD and the gang handling this staff, but I'm not looking forward to hearing from all of my Central Texas/Baylor acquaintances giving me ship about having Kendal on our staff after the ration of ship I gave them about Art and that mess. I'll basically just say where am I'm at now... for anyone looking for an extra pound of flesh with all of this, knock yourself out. Art is still exiled from big-time football, all of his staff has branched off and seems to have done well with no signs of shady behavior, so make your decision on how you want to react about all of that. I'm choosing to assume that the powers-that-be (in multiple places) know better than me, so I'll still go and support my football team after this hire I don't love (from a non-football standpoint).
