DALLAS _ Former Baylor head coach Grant Teaff, former supervisors, other people who couldn't be named "at this time," and personal acquaintances.
They, in addition to re-reading reports and other items, were all the people Mount Vernon ISD Superintendent Jason McCullough and the school board needed to complete its vetting process and hire former Baylor head coach Art Briles, McCullough told multiple television reporters Tuesday.
It's the same candidate that the University of Southern Mississippi didn't view as "viable" after an interview, and a move the owner of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats called a "large and serious mistake" when the team reversed its decision to add Briles to its staff less than 12 hours after hiring him.
"We believe in our community, we believe in our kids and we believe in the parents that we have," McCullough told multiple reporters, including WFAA-TV's Alex Rozier, who posted a clip of the interview on Twitter. "We believe in the process that we went through, that we have vetted this person. We vetted Coach Briles to the best of our ability.
"We really believe the process we went through is one that our community would be proud of and one that we know we did our job with."
McCullough also spoke against what's turned into a narrative for the east Texas town that's home to less than 3,000: that the school chose the pursuit of football success over everything else when it hired Briles.
"Of course when we go out on Friday nights we want our team to do the best that they can do and hopefully come out with a win, but I can tell you as superintendent of schools, my priority was to find a coach who can come in and who is a man of faith, morals, integrity and character," McCullough told Jessica Morrey of KCEN-TV. "And our due diligence, from the people that know him, that's the man we expect to come in."
McCullough, in response to an interview request, told The Dallas Morning News on Sunday to send questions. The News responded Tuesday asking for a phone interview, but didn't hear back at the time of publication.
Mount Vernon's decision to hire Briles was shocking, not only to the country, but to the town, which is about 100 miles east of Dallas. Briles was fired on May 26, 2016 _ nearly three years to the day before Mount Vernon hired him _ after an investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm found 17 cases of sexual assault or domestic violence by 19 players from 2011-2016. A civil lawsuit claimed 31 players committed 52 acts of rape from 2011-14, though those numbers weren't independently verified.
Briles hadn't coached in America since.
He was unanimously approved last week by the Mount Vernon school board and introduced by Skype from Italy, where he currently coaches professional football.
The hire was announced on Facebook at 6 p.m. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, about two hours before the school's graduation. The community was shocked, according to City Councilor Jeff Briscoe.
"Everybody was talking about it and just how, overall the community had no idea," Briscoe told The News a day after the hire. "It wasn't like a community effort to bring him here."
