FRISCO, Texas – In between jokes about flying commercial and speaking to the promise of Florida Atlantic University, Lane Kiffin uncomfortably spent part of Thursday’s Conference USA Kickoff addressing his offensive coordinator, Kendal Briles.

A Baylor staffer from 2008 to 2016, Briles was named in a January lawsuit against Baylor University alleging that he used to sell recruits on the fact that “white women” loved the Bears football players.

“Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at BAYLOR and they LOVE football players,” the lawsuit alleged Briles said to a Dallas-area recruit.

That lawsuit, filed by a Virginia woman in January, came a month after FAU announced Briles’ hiring. Prior to that lawsuit, Briles had not been implicated in any other portion of the Baylor scandal.

Kiffin said the University went through an “extensive” process vetting Briles, but Kiffin was not personally involved.

“They really handled that,” Kiffin said. “That was more from an athletic director standpoint to handling all that stuff – talking to him and talking to people there and going through it. Then they felt sure. I was more from a football standpoint, saying, ‘Hey, I this is the guy I want to hire.’ Then they did the rest and said, ‘Hey, we feel comfortable about this.’"

Embattled by sexual assault allegations, Baylor eventually parted ways with the entirety of its Art Briles-led football staff over the last two years. That includes Briles’ father, Art, who took over the program in 2008. Allegations of sexual assault at Baylor date as far back as 2012 to when former Baylor defensive end Tevin Elliott was arrested and indicted for two counts of sexual assault.

When Kiffin approached the Florida Atlantic administration with the proposal to hire Kendal Briles, he said he felt they were receptive to the idea. He cited the fact that the specific allegation against Briles had not yet been levied.

“At the time it was not as magnified as the stuff is now,” Kiffin said. “It really wasn’t like it is now. These articles and stuff weren’t out there at the time. So there wasn’t a shock factor like now would be.”

There was still perception to think about, though.

The public did not take well to Kiffin’s hiring of Briles, but Kiffin said he was comfortable with Briles if he checked out with the administration.

Kiffin, for his part, said he completely focused on the football aspect when it came to Briles.

Briles, in his two seasons as Baylor’s offensive coordinator (2015-16), twice led a Top 35 unit including a 2015 group that finished first nationally in points per game. Kiffin wanted an offensive coordinator that would take some of the responsibility off his plate so he could function in more of a CEO role. With Briles, he had somebody he “knew could do this.”

“If our people felt comfortable about the other stuff, then the football aspect of it – we want to win games,” Kiffin said. “If we had felt comfortable about the other stuff, you know, that this is going to help us win games and we can help develop our players, then that’s more important than what’s written out there. You guys know it’s always been more important to do what’s best for our team and players wherever I’ve been at then the perception or what’s written about.”

In March, Florida Atlantic President John Kelly said of Briles to the Orlando Sentinel: “We didn’t find anything that we would be concerned about at that time.”

Kiffin said he had to recruit Briles hard to get him to Florida Atlantic because “other schools were interested in hiring him.”

Art Briles does not have a job in college football, but his son is one of several former Baylor assistants to while Baylor still faces multiple lawsuits filled by victims of sexual assault. Among those are former Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who is at Arizona State, Jeff Lebby and Randy Clements, both of whom are at Southeastern University.