NCAA letting Baylor off easy for the Art Briles scandal is their latest failing
By John Buhler
The NCAA lets the Baylor football program off the hook by way of their ruling on Wednesday.
The NCAA was unable to prove the Baylor football program failed to report allegations of sexual misconduct on campus from 2011 to 2016 in their ruling.
This scandal at Baylor led to former university president Ken Starr and former head football coach Art Briles’ departures in 2016. While the NCAA was unable to prove Baylor of any wrongdoing when it comes to failing to report sexual violence on their campus, it did find other violations occurring within the program, including impermissible benefits and other academic violations.
Baylor receives four years of probation and a $5,000 fine, but no bowl ban or a scholarship reduction. This is essentially the best-case scenario for the Baylor football program that admitted to moral and ethical failings on the Waco campus under Briles’ watch.
NCAA throws hands in the air over its Baylor football program investigation
With the NCAA unable to prove anything of significance in their last two investigations of note, the Baylor football program and the North Carolina basketball program, the organization comes across as utterly toothless.
Lacking any bit or conviction whatsoever, here is what some of the college football media had to say about the NCAA’s inability to do anything worth a damn at any time.
No bowl ban for Baylor football. No scholarship losses, either. For Dave Aranda's program, that's essentially the best possible result from the NCAA investigation.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 11, 2021
So yeah, two of the biggest tests of the NCAA system in UNC and, now, Baylor and the COI punts on both.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) August 11, 2021
So, Baylor as a university was so bad at handling cases of sexual violence that it can't be held accountable for how bad its athletic department/football staff was at handling allegations of sexual violence: pic.twitter.com/8D6oH6auVA
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 11, 2021
NCAA could not conclude Baylor violated NCAA rules when it failed to report allegations of & address sexual & interpersonal violence committed on its campus. School gets 4 years probation & $5,000 fine
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 11, 2021
We are five years removed since the investigation began. The Bears are entering their second season with Dave Aranda as their head coach. Baylor is coming off a 2-7 season. While he should have ample time to get this right, Baylor went to the Sugar Bowl two years ago in what was Matt Rhule’s last year leading the team before going to the NFL.
The NCAA letting Baylor off the hook once again proves the organization is totally incompetent.
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