TCU hired Kendal Briles as its new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach the team announced on Thursday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Briles spent the last three seasons in the same position at Arkansas. The 40-year-old also had one-year stints as OC/quarterbacks coach at Florida State (2019), Houston (2018) and Florida Atlantic (2017).
• He will replace 2022 Broyles Award winner Garrett Riley at TCU, who joined Clemson’s staff as an OC/quarterbacks coach on Jan. 12.
• Briles’ coaching career began in 2008 when he joined his father Art’s staff at Baylor. The program was engulfed in a sexual assault scandal in 2016 after Briles had been promoted to OC.

Welcome to Fort Worth 🐸

– Offensive Coordinator
– Associate Head Coach
– Quarterbacks #GoFrogs #DFWBig12Team

— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) January 20, 2023

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What the hire means for TCU

Briles fills the void left by Riley, who recently took the same job at Clemson. But Briles’ arrival is met with some backlash. He was part of a staff at Baylor — TCU’s closest rival — under his father, Art Briles, that was accused of ignoring reports of sexual assault by Baylor football players following an independent investigation in 2016. The scandal, which engulfed the campus, led to a regime change, but most of the on-field assistant coaches from that staff eventually found jobs at other programs, including Kendal Briles, who has worked at Florida Atlantic, Houston, Florida State and Arkansas since his departure from Baylor.

Advertisement

TCU coach Sonny Dykes pressed forward with the hire anyway in hopes that it keeps the Horned Frogs offense producing at a level similar to the unit that led the program to the national title game. — Khan

How Briles’ arrival impacts TCU’s offense

Briles, who oversaw the nation’s seventh-most productive rushing offense at Arkansas last year, will have somewhat of a blank slate to work with. Most of the key offensive skill position players — Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Max Duggan, starting running back Kendre Miller and top receiver Quentin Johnston — are off to the NFL. Chandler Morris, who entered the 2022 season as the starting quarterback before an injury in the season opener paved the way for Duggan, is the favorite to start in 2023.

Morris, a former four-star recruit, is talented, but TCU will have to develop him and other threats around him if the Horned Frogs hope to produce at a similar level. Briles has a history of first-year success, raising production at each of his last four stops. — Khan 

Required reading

(Photo: Nelson Chenault / USA Today)