In case you missed it, Baylor University fired head football coach Art Briles in the wake of an investigation that revealed the football program deliberately swept allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence under the rug. Simply put, Baylor really had no other option. Briles took the Bears to heights they had rarely, if ever, seen in his eight years in Waco. But this investigation proves that success came at the expense of endangering the safety of students at Baylor and other schools, as well as compromising Baylor’s integrity.
Anyone who thinks this was an overreaction should take a look at the response from several of Baylor’s players after Briles was fired. ESPN got a sample. First, linebacker Raaquan Davis:
WOWWWWWW BROOOOO?????????
— ?Sauce Ray Vision? (@RDavis_BU) May 26, 2016
Next, linebacker Taylor Young:
https://twitter.com/tyoung_01/status/735857971796676609
https://twitter.com/tyoung_01/status/735867851001597952
Then defensive back Taion Sells:
https://twitter.com/Taion_BU/status/735860218928582656
If there was any doubt that Briles had to go, these tweets should have erased it. They reveal that Briles failed in one of his most important duties as a coach–teaching his charges how to act in society. Based on the report, at the very least Briles didn’t do nearly enough to ensure that the message was sent to his players–respect for women is not optional. Which means that, at the very least, he was disengaged in a way that a head coach cannot be at any level.
To be fair, several Baylor players realized the seriousness of what happened. Most notably, cornerback Ryan Reid.
https://twitter.com/iamryanreid/status/735876746117926912
https://twitter.com/iamryanreid/status/735883347071639553
Still, the mere fact that there were any tweets at all from the Baylor players in support of Briles says a lot about the culture in that program–and it isn’t good.
A number of recruits from both the 2016 and 2017 classes have decommitted in the days since Briles’ ouster. Most notably, running back Kameron Martin of Port Arthur, Texas; who went as far as to put a Baylor tattoo on his arm. Watch a profile of him here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQOzK4RJkl0
It’s a pretty safe bet that at least some of those decommits came from parents who were outraged at the revelations in the Pepper Hamilton investigation. If I’d seen these tweets and I were a father, grandfather, or uncle, I’d have a hard time with any young man in my family going into an environment where sexual assault had been swept under the rug for so long.
Kate Fagan of ESPN got it right a few years back–society needs to do a major rethink on how it raises men. By all rights, that should start at home. But if parents either cannot or will not do it, who will? In the case of athletes, it’s a no-brainer that coaches should take on that duty. After all, how else are you going to nip potential Ray Rices, Greg Hardys, and Johnny Manziels in the bud?
Briles should have been aware of this, considering that his stock in trade was giving players second chances. But he didn’t realize that sexual assault and domestic violence are among the things for which you can’t get a second chance. It got him deservedly fired.
I had initially thought that firing Briles would be enough. But those tweets in support of him suggest that Baylor has a lot more to do to clean out the culture in its football program. At the very least, the Bears should withdraw from bowl consideration for the coming season. It should also take a long, hard look to see if any of Briles’ wins came with the help of players who had no business being on the field. And the NCAA definitely needs to come down on Baylor with everything short of a death penalty. Unlike with the Penn State scandal, there is no doubt–a breach of every standard of decency that is known almost certainly gave the Bears an undue competitive advantage.
Full disclosure–one of those wins, which proved to be Briles’ last, came against my North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl. But the possibility that my Tar Heels were beaten by players who didn’t belong on the field, and possibly shouldn’t have even been on campus, turns my stomach. And the prospect that my Tar Heels lost to a program that was indifferent, at best, to domestic violence is just plain obscene.
