Ticats tarnish brand — 'there will be consequences' for hiring Briles: PR expert
Ticats owner says team wasn't true to its values in hiring disgraced former Baylor University coach
In the wake of the internationally condemned hiring of disgraced football coach Art Briles, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats have undoubtedly damaged their reputation, a public relations expert says.
Briles was fired from his previous job as head coach at Baylor University in 2015, after an independent investigation revealed the football program mishandled multiple allegations of sexual assault against players under his watch, including an alleged gang rape.
When the CFL's team announced Monday that they were bringing Briles on board as an assistant head coach, reaction was swift and fiery. Many criticised the hiring on social media, while major news outlets like USA Today called the move "clueless." Sports Illustrated gave the team the dubious honour of "the most tone-deaf franchise in the world."
The team's owner has issued an apology, saying the hire didn't align with the team's values and acknowledging its brand had been hurt by associating itself with "the awful events that occurred at Baylor."
After consultation with the Canadian Football League, the team backtracked Monday night — but there's still no way for the team to walk through this minefield unscathed, said Stephen Murdoch, the vice president of public relations for Enterprise Canada.
"There will be consequences. It will be interesting to see, especially next year when it's time to renew season tickets, how this will impact the team," Murdoch said. "Some fans will forever have it etched in their mind what they did."
"That being said, the Ticats are the Ticats. They're an institution in Hamilton, so you're always going to have that core fanbase that is going to follow them."
Team failed to be true to its values, owner says
In a letter to season ticket holders sent out Tuesday night, team owner Bob Young said the organization screwed up badly, and recognized team's actions didn't align with the image and values it wants to project.
"The mistake was we failed to be true to our values and what we stand for. We allowed tactical considerations like personal references, personal relationships, and technical legal arguments trump our commitment to our values and our beliefs," Young wrote.
He said there would be changes, and that the team would make those changes both with a goal of winning football games and doing so in a way that allows the community to be proud.
"Let me be bluntly clear at my own expense: The Tiger-Cats' goal is to help the members of the communities we serve, this includes working to protect women from predatory men. Not recognizing the conflict with that goal in this instance was the mistake, and we will not make that mistake again."
Murdoch says that Young, who refers to himself as the team's "caretaker," seems sincere in his apology. But the team's narrative throughout this process has been inconsistent, he said.
The Tiger Cats response to the Art Briles fiasco will be fascinating . They've got a lot of repairing to do with fans and community .
—@SteveClarkMedia'They should have known'
Most glaring is that the team didn't predict the blowback that would come from a hire like Biles.
"Maybe they legitimately thought this was a guy who they wanted to give a second chance," Murdoch said. "But at the end of the day, they should have known… that there'd be fallout from this."
(Sigh.) My poor Hamilton Tiger-Cats. 0-8 SU. 2-6 ATS. And now an Art Briles fiasco just to top things off. What a season.
—@JonnyOddsShark"I think they've done some damage. I think there are those folks within not for profit groups within Hamilton that may not want to be associated with the Ticats for a while. If you see some of the chatter online a lot of people were even saying regardless of whether or not they moved forward with this decision, they're not renewing their tickets next season. I think next year, they'll lose a bit of their fan base, and from community relations standpoint I think it will impact their brand."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
