Is Baylor the Next Penn State?

I'm sure everyone remembers the problem at Penn State where an assistant coach was apparently molesting little boys and it was reported but the reports were never acted on allowing the molester to continue?

It seems that Baylor is now the center of it's own scandal. It seems there is evidence to suggest longtime collusion between the Waco Police and the University, including both president Ken Starr (yes, that one) and the AD and head coach Briles (possibly other sports too) to cover up sexual assaults. The focus is on the football because of Baylor's meteoric rise in recent years, but all the sports are involved.

Here is a comprehensive timeline of allegations.

Now understand that sexual assaults and incidents involving students and student athletes happens all over the NCAA. I'm sure everyone remembers Jameis Winston whose university had to pay out on a TItle IX lawsuit to settle allegations made against him, but what's going on at Baylor is more disturbing.

If you studied that timeline, you noticed names appearing with multiple incidents at Baylor, and serious ones. When I mean serious, I mean more than someone who got drunk and had a DUI or got caught with a bong or shoved someone which is the usual range of athlete misbehavior. We're talking serious beatings, rapes, etc., and MORE THAN ONCE! Some of them were picked up and become stars at Baylor after being kicked out at other schools for that kind of bad behavior.

First up was defensive end Tevin Elliott, sentenced in 2014 to 20 years in prison on two counts of sexual assault but not before five women reported to police being sexually assaulted or attacked by him. According to an ESPN Outside the Lines report, one accuser who met with the school's chief judicial officer was told she was the sixth woman to report an incident involving Elliott. She was also told, essentially, there's nothing we can do about it.

Last year, a Waco jury convicted lineman Sam Ukwuachu of second-degree sexual assault, a story that received considerable attention because Ukwuachu, like Oakman, transferred from another school, Boise State, where he'd faced disciplinary issues. His ex-girlfriend at Boise testified about their abusive relationship at his trial last August. Many questions were raised as to what exactly Briles knew of Ukwuachu's time at Boise before taking him and why he was allowed to remain on scholarship during the 14 months between his indictment (which was never reported by the local media) and his trial.

Here are just two incidents, both transfers because of trouble that got them kicked out of their previous schools. The first guy had assaulted five women and a sixth reported and was told nothing could be done! The second was allowed to remain on scholarship between indictment and trial, and local media never reported on his indictment. Don't you think their should have been disciplinary action in there somewhere?

And as more keeps coming out, Bayor has a private investigation going on right now. It's called the Pepper Hamilton Review, but because Baylor is a private school, they aren't required to release the findings.

One longtime college head coach said Wednesday the thing that stuck with him the most from the latest OTL report was just the number of incidents and how many of the cases involving Baylor football players leave big questions about what, if anything at all, was done to investigate them.

"These guys kept playing?" the coach said. "The message you're sending is, 'This isn't a big deal.'"

The coach pointed out that because of the Clery Act, which requires schools to keep records of crime on and near their campuses, universities and athletic departments have had to become very diligent in the protocol when incidents occur. Or at least they're supposed to have.

"There are three big questions here: Who knew what happened? When did they know about it? And, what action was taken?

If it is true that the coach and AD knew about the assaults and did nothing by way of even team discipline, then this is big and a firing offense for everyone from President on down. Baylor may have a winning program, but the NCAA will drop the hammer, especially in this environment. And scuttlebutt on the ground in the college/Big12 world is that the Baylor alums and fans are ticked off royally by this. You can look at two reasons: 1.) They know what will happen when the NCAA comes for them and 2.) Some of them have morals.

Here's another timeline of articles in the press chronicling the scandal and its development.

And the latest news to come out is that Ke n Starr is out! I knew the Baylor regents were meeting to discuss firing Briles, but it looks like they started at the top with Starr. Really the guy who found the little blue dress should be more assiduous in rooting out sexual misconduct in his university's football team you would think.

At any rate, this promises to be a hot news story in the college football world as it develops.