ESPN College Football

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Houston coach Art Briles interviewed Tuesday with Baylor about the Bears' coaching vacancy.

Briles, who has led the Cougars to four bowls in five seasons, returned to Houston after meeting with Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw in Dallas. Briles had not been offered the job, though he still appeared to be a front-runner to replace the fired Guy Morriss.

When reached on his cell phone Tuesday night, McCaw refused comment on the search and reiterated that he wouldn't talk "until the press conference, whenever that is." McCaw said immediately after Morriss was fired Nov. 19 that the AD wouldn't comment publicly again until it was time to introduce the new coach.

The leading candidate initially was Mike Singletary. But the Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker and Baylor icon took his name out of consideration after a lengthy meeting with McCaw last week in California.

Briles is 34-28 in five seasons at Houston. The Cougars (8-4) have already accepted an invitation to play in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28 in Houston against an undetermined Big 12 opponent. Houston had only two winning seasons since 1990 when Briles arrived.

Baylor has had 12 straight losing seasons, and ended this season with their 12th straight Big 12 loss. Morriss was fired the day after the season finale and was 18-40 overall.

Beside Singletary, Baylor had also expressed interest in Houston Nutt. But Nutt, who resigned from Arkansas on Monday, was quickly hired Tuesday by Mississippi.

Other potential candidates are Boise State coach Chris Petersen, fired Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey and Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora.

Before going to Houston, where he was a four-year letterman as a receiver and played in the 1976 Cotton Bowl, Briles spent three seasons as running backs coach at Texas Tech. His previous head coaching job had been at Stephenville High, where in 12 seasons he was 136-29-2 and won four Texas state championships.

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press