Literally hundreds of college football coaches have changed jobs in the past two months, but one notable free agent has remained on the periphery: Art Briles.

It’s not entirely surprising given the circumstances of his dismissal last spring at Baylor, but those in the sport have been watching with curiosity whether someone would hire a coach whose baggage is as heavy as his ceiling is high.

Those representing the 61-year-old Briles are telling prospective employers that he was “scapegoated” by Baylor, industry sources have told 247Sports. That narrative has certainly been adopted by a faction of the school’s fan base and some of his former associates.

The issue for employers: Without additional information from Baylor and its investigation, there’s no way to prove whether Briles was culpable or indeed scapegoated.

Many in the sport believe that makes Briles untouchable at the moment, at least until there’s more clarity what Briles did or didn’t know regarding the school’s handling of sexual violence claims and cases involving his former players.

“There’s too much smoke there,” one FBS athletics director told 247Sports. “You can’t become comfortable with it, and I couldn’t spend an entire search trying to play judge and jury deciding whether Art Briles is guilty.”

Another AD felt even stronger that Briles is presently unhirable.

“No ... no. You can’t,” the AD said. “There are certain situations for second chances, but that’s just not something you can do. You just can’t.

“He’s proven to be an excellent offensive coach, but there are lots of excellent coaches out there without the stigma — or something worse ... we don’t really know at this point — of what happened. That’s not something you can bring onto your campus unless you’re 100 percent positive that he’s been absolved of everything that, at least from the outside, led to him being fired.”

Even so, 247Sports has been told that multiple programs, whether the push has been led by coaches or donors, have considered hiring Briles — an offensive mastermind who took Baylor to unprecedented heights in eight seasons — in some capacity.

At Texas Tech, we’ve been told by sources close to the program that a group of boosters wanted last fall to oust Kliff Kingsbury in favor of Briles, a 1979 TTU graduate. (There’s nothing to suggest that was taken seriously by the school’s administration, which still vocally supports Kingsbury).

Houston is even more unique since Briles attended school there and coached the team from 2003-07. When Tom Herman left for Texas, a healthy number of supporters clamored for Briles’ return.

One person familiar with the search said the donor base was split evenly down the middle, with each side loudly voicing their position to Houston’s decision-makers.

“It was as divisive as anything I’ve seen in athletics,” the source close to UH said. “You had a group of people who didn’t believe he’d done anything wrong — or didn’t care if he did — and you had a group of people threatening to walk out the door and not give another dime if he was hired.”

The school’s leadership did not deliberate long before deciding it could not hire Briles, sources said. Briles was informed that he would not be a candidate.

However, an ESPN report surfaced two days later saying that Briles would receive an interview at UH. It was seemingly bait to net Briles more interest from other schools.

The school quickly moved to publicly debunk the report.

“If he wasn’t getting traction [at Houston], that told you something,” one industry source said. “It was just noise.”

Coaches who have known Briles for years have considered doing their old friend a favor, 247Sports has been told by multiple sources. Administrators, though, have been quick to shoot down the notion of hiring Briles. It’s simply too risky.

“It just is not worth it when you balance the factors,” an industry source said. “You’d be selling out to win football games. That’s what you’d be doing. You can’t say with a straight face that you’re doing the right thing.”

Several members of Briles’ former staff at Baylor, most of which was allowed to stay on through the 2016 season, has found new jobs. Notably, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles — Art’s son — joined Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic and veteran d-coordinator Phil Bennett is now with Todd Graham and Arizona State.

The assistants were not named in any of the investigation findings at Baylor, but some other coaches wondered whether association with Briles and the program would preclude opportunities. After some initial blowback, those coaches have been integrated into their new programs.

But Art Briles is another matter entirely.

“Even if he’s acquitted fully in six months,” one AD told us, “what about those six months when you’re getting crushed for it? You can’t do it.”

One well-connected industry source laid out the hypothetical steps he believes are required for Briles to return to the FBS level.

Step 1: He said Briles would need to sit out a year or two, in what he deemed “purgatory.” Another industry source suggested that “purgatory” could come in the form of an NFL analyst- or consultant-type job.

Briles dipped his toe in that water with appearances last summer at Dallas and Houston’s training camps. He later attended a Cleveland Browns practice.

“That’s what I have thought all along that he should do,” the source said.

Step 2: Regardless how he spends that interim time, it would certainly help Briles’ case if more information emerged as to what Briles did or didn’t know regarding the issues at Baylor. He said that if Briles isn’t further absolved, he’s going to be presumed guilty.

“Whether that’s fair or unfair, that’s how you have to view it if you’re in the position to hire him,” the source said.

Step 3: To hire Briles, it would likely take someone with an incredible amount of political capital in his job.

“I’m not even sure if someone other than (Nick) Saban or Urban (Meyer) could do it,” the source said. “Maybe so, but you know what I mean. They’re the guys who have been able to take some chances recently, and they’ve made those situations work.”

Saban in September hired and then later promoted Steve Sarkisian, who was fired at USC after substance-abuse issues continued to creep into the workplace. And Meyer just brought on Kevin Wilson to be his new OC despite Wilson being dismissed at Indiana amid player abuse allegations.

“No one really even blinked,” the source said. “Everyone said, ‘Oh, well, Urban must have looked into that and feels good about it.’ That’s what it’s going to take for Art, that kind of situation.”

More than one industry source thought there could be another path: One said he thought Briles could be a head coach or OC as soon as 2017, but more than likely at a lower level.

“Everything you hear about the guy, he just wants to coach. He can’t stand sitting out, that this is in his blood,” a source said. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped back in at the Division II or Division III level, anywhere just to keep in it.”