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Former Baylor head coach Art Briles was at Browns practice Wednesday as a guest of Hue Jackson's

(David I. Andersen, cleveland.com)

BEREA, Ohio - Former Baylor head coach Art Briles stood on the Browns practice field fully decked out in the team's gear on Wednesday. He was here as a guest of head coach Hue Jackson's.

It was, at the least, not a good look for Jackson or the Browns.

"What happened at Baylor's at Baylor," Jackson said following practice on Wednesday.

Frankly, what is alleged to have happened at Baylor, as outlined in a report by the law firm Pepper Hamilton on the school's handling of sexual assault cases, is disgusting. The final line of the summary of the report read: "Pepper's findings also reflect significant concerns about the tone and culture within Baylor's football program as it relates to accountability for all forms of athlete misconduct."

[Read the report summary here]

Briles eventually reached a contract settlement with Baylor after threatening to sue the school for wrongful termination.

The Browns as an organization should shudder at the sight of one of the men fired in the fallout from the allegations outlined in the report standing on their field wearing their gear.

Jackson, especially, should have second thoughts about bringing Briles in as a guest. He has, since the day he announced that the team was moving on from quarterback Johnny Manziel at the combine in February, taken a strong stance in regards to character.

"Our organization is going to take a stand, and we're going to move on from those kind of situations as we move forward," Jackson said on Feb. 24.

Wednesday, that talk came with a caveat.

"A strong stance with the people within our organization," Jackson clarified when asked about his previous comments. "This happened at a different time and not here, so I can't judge that."

That's a pretty big exception.

"I understand everybody has an opinion about it, but I get to judge here and what goes on here in our building and I don't think those things have affected our building that way. Nothing happened here," Jackson added.

Simply calling it a bad look doesn't do this justice. In a year stressing culture change - a year where they have moved on from the likes of Manziel, who was under investigation following an altercation with his ex-girlfriend at the time - in a year where there are so many young players, the Browns as an organization have opened up their doors to one of football's most controversial figures. They've trotted him onto their practice field. They've decked him out in brown and orange.

Art Briles and everything that comes with that name is now associated with the Cleveland Browns organization. And, make no mistake, it is the whole organization, an organization that boasts a co-owner in Dee Haslam who serves on the league's conduct committee.

"I've talked this through with our upper management because I asked, 'Is it OK for him to be here with me as my guest?'" Jackson said. "And I got the OK. It was a good conversation with our people here and I think they understood where I was coming from, so I don't want to make it seem like I'm trying to extend the olive branch."

No one is arguing that Briles isn't a great offensive mind. Maybe, some day, Briles will get a second chance. Whether he deserves one can be debated then.

"Whatever's happened at Baylor, I'm not condoning," Jackson said, "or him being here says that we condone anything."

His presence may not mean they condone what was alleged at Baylor. It certainly appears they are tone-deaf to it, though.

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