New Mexico
Briles looks forward to ‘new chapter’ at ENMU
PORTALES, N.M. — Art Briles was hired as football coach at Eastern New Mexico on Monday, getting his first college head coaching job since Baylor fired the two-time Big 12 champion more than nine years ago after a review of the university’s handling of sexual assault allegations made against several football players.
“Very excited, very grateful, very happy,” Briles said during his introduction at the NCAA Division II school that plays in the Lone Star Conference. “It’s a great moment for me, I hope it’s a great moment for this university. I’m extremely excited to start this journey, this new chapter, in our lives.”
An external investigation revealed in May 2016 that Baylor had, for years, mishandled numerous sexual assault allegations by students, including some against football players. Briles has said that he didn’t cover up reports of assaults by his players. An NCAA infractions report in 2021 criticized him for failing to look into horrific and potentially criminal allegations, but he was cleared of any NCAA violations.
When asked how his perspective has changed 10 years after his last college season, Briles responded, “I think I’m certainly a lot more knowledgeable about every situation.”
“Really, I’m just more concerned about the next chapter and not the last chapter,” he said. “I’ve kind of learned through the process that a lot of times less said is best said because a lot of times, if you say stuff, it can be construed however anybody wants to look at it.”
Briles, who turns 70 next month, was hired as offensive coordinator at Grambling State in 2022, but stepped down less than a week later, saying he didn’t want to be a distraction at the prominent HBCU. Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson had attempted to hire Briles as the program’s OC in 2019, but the university administration eventually vetoed the move.
After coaching professional football in Italy, Briles returned to Texas and was the head coach at Mount Vernon High School for two seasons (2019-20).
The athletic director at Eastern New Mexico is Kevin Fite, who was the associate AD for compliance and eligibility at Houston when Briles was coach there before going to Baylor. Briles had a 34-28 record at Houston from 2003 to 2007, then was 65-37 with the Bears from 2008 to 2015.
Fite said he and Briles are committed to working together to create the best possible experience for players and the student and university community.
“That will involve winning,” Fite said. “That winning will do a lot for this campus and its students. I understand that this is a unique and surprising hire.”
Eastern New Mexico just completed its second consecutive 3-8 season. The Greyhounds fired coach Kelley Lee, who was 32-34 in his six seasons over two stints (2017-19 and 2023-25).
Fite said he heard from many current and former coaches and ADs, and even pastors, in support of Briles.
“I trust him to lead this football program with a high amount of integrity,” he said. “What I would want our university community to understand is that I know Art Biles. I know his family. I know his commitment to impacting the lives of young people. I know he is a tremendous leader. I know that he has changed the lives of many of his players in a very positive way. I know his former players and co-workers love him. I know he is a winner.”
The university is located about 250 miles from Briles’ hometown of Rule, Texas.
Baylor paid Briles more than $15 million after firing him. He later acknowledged making mistakes and apologized for “some bad things” that happened under his watch.
Briles’ son-in-law, Jeff Lebby, is Mississippi State’s head coach. His son, Kendal, is the offensive coordinator at TCU.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
New Mexico
Timothy Busfield dropped by talent agency as he makes first court appearance in New Mexico child sex abuse case
Embattled actor Timothy Busfield was dropped by his talent agency on the same day that he appeared inside a New Mexico courtroom for the first time in his child sex abuse case.
Innovative Artists, which is based in Los Angeles and New York, released the 68-year-old actor and director as a client as of Wednesday, Deadline reported.
The agency offered a “fair-sized” team to represent the “West Wing” actor during his several years with the group, according to the outlet.
Busfield’s career hit came after he entered no plea in his first court appearance on disturbing allegations he sexually abused two young boys on the set of a FOX show he directed.
The alleged abuse began in 2022, when the boys were 7 years old on the set of “The Cleaning Lady” in New Mexico.
The ‘Field of Dreams’ actor is accused of inappropriately touching one of the boys three or four times, and the other five or six times, according to the arrest warrant filed Friday.
A criminal investigation began in 2024 when a physician notified police about suspected sexual abuse after examining one of the children at the University of New Mexico Hospital, according to the complaint.
Attorneys for Warner Bros., which produced “The Cleaning Lady,” told cops that a prior independent investigation into the allegations found no evidence to support the claims, the complaint alleged.
Busfield, who is married to former child star Melissa Gilbert, turned himself in to the Albuquerque Police Department on Tuesday.
Busfield was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse. He has denied those allegations.
“Tim Busfield denies the allegations in the criminal complaint and maintains they are completely false,” the 68-year-old’s lawyer, Larry Stein, said in a statement to The Post Wednesday.
Follow The Post’s coverage on Timothy Busfield
A third alleged victim, a 16-year-old girl in Sacramento, California, accused Busfield of sexual abuse “several years ago,” according to a motion filed by prosecutors in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, on Jan. 14.
Colin Swift, the alleged victim’s father, reported the incident to investigators on Jan. 13, according to the motion, which was filed to request pretrial detention and was obtained by The Post. Busfield has not been charged in connection with the 16-year-old’s claim.
The father claims Busfield kissed his daughter during an audition with the director before he put his hands down the teen girl’s pants and “touched her privates,” at the B Street Theatre, the motion alleges.
Busfield founded the B Street Theatre, which opened as the Theatre for Children in Sacramento in 1986.
The director allegedly begged for the family to not report the incident to police “if he received therapy,” according to the motion.
Swift, a therapist, agreed “that was the best thing to do” at the time.
The third abuse claim was made the same day Busfield was arrested.
The actor was ordered held without bail and is currently at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.
New Mexico
A 900K-acre land sale just made LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke the nation’s largest private landowner
The purchase of a New Mexico ranch nearing 1 million acres tipped the scales for Stan Kroenke, who is now the largest private landowner in America.
Kroenke, 78, topped Land Report’s annual list of the country’s 100 largest landowners, leading a pack of billionaires eager to beef up their rural portfolios.
Kroenke is worth an estimated $26.8 billion, according to Bloomberg, largely thanks to his ownership of sport franchises like the Los Angeles Rams, the Denver Nuggets and the UK’s Arsenal Football Club — as well as several of the teams’ sports arenas.
Kroenke, a Missouri native, is married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke.
Kroenke recently acquired more than 937,000 acres of noncontiguous New Mexico ranchland, rounding out his total land holdings to more than 2.7 million acres across the American West and Canada.
Land Report confirmed the December deal, which spans four New Mexico counties. The off-market transaction is the largest single land purchase in the US since 2011.
The price of Kroenke’s New Mexico purchase remains under wraps, but Land Report estimated the former value of his ranch holdings at $3.9 billion.
Kroenke made headlines in 2016 when he snapped up Texas’ historic Waggoner Ranch — the 535,000-acre property is largest piece of unbroken ranchland in the Lone Star State. Other acquisitions include massive ranches in Montana and Nevada.
In addition to rolling rural plains, Kroenke owns an estimated 60 million square feet of commercial holdings, the New York Times reported, including sports venues in California and Denver.
The investor’s busy two decades of ranch acquisitions has set him far above other high-profile billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
Bezos’ holdings ranked 21st in Land Report’s report, spanning close to half a million acres largely concentrated in Texas. Gates trailed behind in 44th place, whose prolific farmland purchases span roughly 275,000 acres.
An uptick in rural land grabs among billionaires over the past decade was hastened along in recent years by the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic and the so-called “Yellowstone Effect.”
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