Former Baylor football coach Art Briles testified Thursday that he had no knowledge of the domestic violence allegations made by a former student against one of his players in 2014 until she filed a lawsuit two years later, although members of his staff knew about those claims — and reports of other issues — involving the former player.
Briles is a defendant in a Title IX and negligence trial in which Baylor alumna Dolores Lozano alleges being physically assaulted by then-Bears player Devin Chafin in 2014. Baylor University and ex-athletic director Ian McCaw are also defendants in the federal case.
Lozano, now an elected justice of the peace in Harris County, Texas, reported that Chafin physically assaulted her three times in March and April 2014, after the two, who had been dating, argued over an abortion Lozano had earlier that year.
Lozano alleges that the university’s overall failure to implement Title IX and address sexual violence put her at risk for assault and that the university, Briles and McCaw failed to properly respond to her report and caused her to be subjected to further abuse by Chafin.
Briles and McCaw first appeared in court Thursday — the fourth day of testimony — and did not answer questions about Lozano’s claims as they walked into the federal courthouse.
Multiple Baylor women have filed complaints and lawsuits against Baylor stemming from the school’s overall failures to address reports of sexual violence and the 2016 findings by law firm Pepper Hamilton that found problems in multiple university departments. The findings highlighted specific issues with the football program and led to the firing of Briles, suspension and eventual resignation of McCaw and demotion of former president Ken Starr, who died in 2022. Lozano’s is the only lawsuit from that time to make it to trial, and it is unique in that it names McCaw and Briles as individual defendants.