Surely, you have heard and read about the allegations of sexual assault and other lawless behaviors attributed to members of the Baylor football team and about how the coaching staff, athletic department and school administration did less than one should expect to curb those activities and to report them to the authorities. In matters of this nature, I have been sensitized to wait until the process works itself out before diving headlong into the discussion; the infamous Duke Lacrosse Case remains embedded in my memory. That is why I have not been commenting on this matter as it has been in and out of the news over the past year or so.
To be sure, this whole matter is not settled. There are still lawsuits pending against the school by alleged victims and by members of the coaching staff and there are lawsuits for defamation of character that are out there and … Trust me; this is not over by a long shot. Nonetheless, as a result of the discovery process in one of the lawsuits, some text messages sent by former Baylor coach, Art Briles, have come to light. While these messages do not confirm or deny any guilt by any of his players in terms of criminal activities or sexual assaults, the texts indicate to me that he knew that there were multiple issues of behaviors by his players that are socially and legally unacceptable. Those text messages indicate he knew about them and that he was part of a process that intended to keep these behaviors from coming to the attention of the local police in order to keep players eligible to play football.
On the assumption that those text messages are real and have not been concocted to frame Art Briles, they are sufficiently odious to bring me to the following conclusion:
- Art Briles should not be allowed to coach football – or any other sport – at an educational institution in the US again.
Given the information in those text messages and their timing, I think I am also ready to say that the folks who were in charge at Baylor University at the time – they have since been replaced – should also be barred from holding equivalent positions of authority at an educational institution in the US. A quick Google search here will give you an overview of the sordid behaviors that these folks sought to cover up/minimize in order to keep a top-rated football team on the field. Just to focus on one of the allegations here, one Baylor co-ed alleges that she was gang-raped by two football players and that she can identify 52 instances of sexual assault perpetrated by 31 different Baylor football players. Those are allegations; none has been proven. However, juxtaposed with the text messages involving other matters, the situation at Baylor was about as ugly as a barrel of hot cat vomit.
If you are too lazy to use Google, here is an espn.com overview of some of the lowlights here. If you want to read a report on some of the behaviors of the coaching staff and at least one of the boosters for the Baylor football program, check out this report from SI.com.
What interests me here – in addition of course to resolving the outstanding criminal charges at the basis of all this – is the behavior of the good folks at the NCAA. I would like to think that those folks have been quiet and careful regarding this matter because they learned a lesson; that may be the case – or it may also be the case that they are tone deaf. Let me explain…
Remember back to the days of the “Sandusky Affair” at Penn State. Long before the judicial processes finished, the NCAA swooped in and levied a whole bunch of sanctions against Penn State. One merely violated the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a judge saw to it that the sanction was reversed; others took away scholarships and another performed the feckless task of vacating victories. In that case, Penn State gained no material on-field advantage in football – which is the fundamental reason the NCAA and its rule book exist in the first place. But the NCAA was out-front in terms of punishments…
In the Baylor case, this hot mess has been around for well over a year now and the NCAA is still pondering. If what they are doing is waiting for all the evidence and all the charges to become known so they can make an informed decision in this matter, then bully for them. I am typically not one to offer praise for the folks at the NCAA; but if that is what they are doing here, they are doing the right thing. However, if they fail to come down on this institution and these adults who were in charge at least as hard as they tried to come down on Penn State and the folks there, then it is time for the villagers to bring their torches and pitch forks to NCAA Headquarters and to slay the monsters therein.
Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post has called on the NCAA to invoke the “Death Penalty” on Baylor football. I am not there – yet – simply because there are still events in the world of jurisprudence that are pending. However, I will say this:
- If the bulk of the allegations of sexual assaults and rapes and other sordid illegal behaviors are proven to have happened, then the “Death Penalty” for Baylor football should definitely be strongly considered.
Moving up one level of football competition and the coaching aspects therein, the Niners did announce that Kyle Shanahan will be their new coach and that he and John Lynch will be the football mavens to restore the Niners’ franchise to a status above “laughingstock”. Congratulations to those two folks; they have a steep hill to climb. Moreover, one of the handicaps they will have to carry up that hill is the Niners’ CEO, Jed York who is the son of the team’s principle owner, Denise DeBartolo York. Jed York is a Niners’ fan who was given the keys to the car in 2008 and who enjoyed early success by hiring Jim Harbaugh to coach the team. However, when Harbaugh and then GM, Trent Baalke, crossed swords, York could not restore order and then clearly picked the “wrong side” in the argument letting Harbaugh walk.
From that moment forward, nothing that Jed York has done has made football sense – including his coaching hires, his reliance on Baalke to do the drafting for the team, etc. He has alienated the fanbase and – most importantly – he has shown that he is averse to any sort of public humiliation. Press criticism and fan demonstrations do not make him a happy camper…
Ergo, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan not only have to do a lot of work to restore a football roster than is severely talent-deficient, they also have to do that in a way that allows some of the reflected glory to shine on Jed York plus they have to do it in a time-frame that will make the fans and the press see that progress is being made to the point that they do not continue to ridicule Jed York. I have read that both Lynch and Shanahan have 6-year contracts; I think that they had better show some progress in the first two years and they had better be relevant in the NFC West in the third year or they will be sitting home and collecting on the final years of those deals.
Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald last week:
“The Winter X Games have been going on. The question is, WHY!?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports ………
On the Baylor situation: what makes this particularly odious is that Baylor University likes to present itself as a beacon of rectitude on social issues and civility. It is a highly religious, an one small (albeit old) story illustrates the point. Back in my youth, while scanning Playboy for the articles there would be the usual October issue of the “Girls of …” whatever football conference. Since some of those articles were devilishly hard to find one year for the old Southwest Conference, there was a cartoon reprinted from the Baylor student paper bemoaning the fact that the photo teams were blockaded from campus, with the girls from Texas, Tech, Rice, etc. in tastefully done poses and the Baylor entry covered head to toe and gagged on a chair. As a Baptist school this is a hardly surprising because of what the values are, and in general it works until hypocrisy comes in. Also, the President of Baylor through much of this was none other than the very Kenneth Starr who pursued President Clinton into impeachment. If I remember correctly his tenure at Pepperdine as law school dean had issues, as well as his defense of Proposition 8 in California. So, it is possible that political connections have to do with why SMU was hammered and Baylor so far has not been. If the suits proceed as expected, however, all of the slime being shoved under the rocks over the years will ooze out uncontrollably. Everyone will have their limit for how much they will tolerate on these issues. The NCAA will be cornered into acting on this.
On the Niners: It’s not only Jed but Paraag that will meddle in the football operations. While Shanahan did muck up the SB, keep in mind also that very few QBs other than Brady and/or Montana (or Young) would have made the Falcons pay like this. It was an opportunity to finish the Pats off, but not the last one. However, do expect the SB whispers to start if/when the Niners fail to get into the playoffs next year. I’d commend Tim Kawakami for the blow-by-blow and what it means. There is also the matter of the relationship to the City of Santa Clara to consider, and I think these hires will help bridge the gap. However, city relations belong to Jed and Paraag so improvement is not likely to occur.
Once the SB went to OT, was it my imagination or not that it guaranteed the Over would prevail?
rugger9:
First to your wagering question … The total score when OT began was 56. The Total Line had jumped around all week starting at 58 and going as high as 60. When I did Mythical Picks it was down to 58.5 and it went off at game time at 56.5 because the so-called “smart money” came in heavily for the UNDER. So, anyone who took the OVER at 57.5 or less was guaranteed to win once OT started. If you had 58, you could have pushed if the defense had scored a safety to provide the margin of victory. [Aside: A safety by the defense on the first possession would have been the same as a TD by the offense on the first possession; it would have ended the game there.] If you had the OVER at 58.5 you would win the OVER with anything other than a safety. If you had 59 you would have pushed with a field goal. If you had 59.5 or 60 as your OVER, you needed a TD to cash.
Here on the East Coast, I know Paraag Marathe only by name. From what I read, he is not highly regarded by the football scribes in the Bay Area but I really do not understand what he does for the team and why he is there – – other than he must be “best buds” with Jed York.
Paraag is an executive without visible portfolio even though he is cited as a “notable alumnus” of Lynbrook HS in San Jose Class of 1995 as President of the Niners. I had no idea he went to my old school, I’m very disappointed… and not amused (h/t Queen Victoria). However, that position had been mostly invisible as noted by our resident ink-stained wretches (h/t Herb Caen IIRC)since he does not hold news conferences or perform any detectable duties for the team. Jed does all of that presidenting stuff.