TK Sanders
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After a painstaking five year investigation into Baylor’s sexual assault reporting standards, in which former head football coach Art Briles was scapegoated by the media as a monster, the NCAA has finally concluded that major rules were not broken.
While violations were uncovered, the NCAA panel “could not conclude that Baylor violated NCAA rules when it failed to report allegations of and address sexual and interpersonal violence committed on its campus.”
“Baylor admitted to moral and ethical failings in its handling of sexual and interpersonal violence on campus but argued those failings, however egregious, did not constitute violations of NCAA rules. Ultimately, and with tremendous reluctance, this panel agrees,” the panel admitted.
“To arrive at a different outcome would require the [committee] to ignore the rules the Association’s membership has adopted — rules under which the [committee] is required to adjudicate. Such an outcome would be antithetical to the integrity of the infractions process.”
The case boils down to an examination of campus culture and the liability a single administrator is expected to shoulder in a scandal. If an athlete is given preferential treatment in any way, including being shielded from possible legal action in the case of a crime, then that athlete is said to have received an improper benefit, which is why the NCAA got involved in the first place. In the end, the NCAA determined that non-reporting of assault occurred throughout the entire campus, not just in the football program, and was thus not deemed an improper benefit.
Essentially, Briles was made the face of a dysfunctional culture that expanded well beyond his reach. Though the extent of his knowledge and involvement falls squarely into that gray, speculative space that yellow journalists covet for its salaciousness, Briles was fingered as the chief culprit. Cases like this are why we have a judicial process, why we are considered ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ But so often, the official narrative gets spun early without a clear examination of the facts. As a result, the accused never fully recovers in reputation or public offering. It’s impossible to know how much Briles really knew or how much he was covering up, but he was scapegoated nonetheless.
The entire story is indicative of our American discourse at the moment: rushed, hyperbolic, and lacking nuance. The Title IX investigations into Baylor uncovered all sorts of ugliness, but because the media ran with a solitary version of the truth, the saga will always be attached to a single man whose scope of involvement isn’t even certain. The media could never prove his guilt, and therefore should have portrayed him as innocent. However, they knew if they suggested his guilt enough, then consumers would eventually follow the ruse. It’s a sick, megalomaniacal game played by those who deem themselves as smart as the entire judiciary system.
What’s worse, the vast majority of those media members have likely bought into their own version of reality and won’t afford Briles any grace moving forward, despite the NCAA ruling. Why? Because he is a white man who once held a position of power and influence, and is thus easily destroyed in this overwrought pressure cooker of American resentment. Briles’ public tar-and-feathering served both the financial agendas of liberal writers as well as their own emotional, ‘ethical’ needs, the latter of which is strictly forbidden in the realm of fair and balanced journalism.
A return to patience and due process is paramount, both for the accused and for the victims. Without it, dysfunctional cultures of mistrust and runaway judgment flourish. The story of Baylor is one of a lack of integrity, but because the world reacted the way it did, that lack of integrity spread far beyond the borders of Waco, TX.
I recall following The Baylor Scandal with interest but with the superficialness of being 1500 miles away.
Whenever a program rises quickly (within 2-3 years) to Top Ten level as Baylor under Briles did, there is going to be close scrutiny as to how one assembles that level of MCFB talent that quickly. It took more than simply RGIII to achieve Baylor’s successes over traditional powers. Creating a VERY “player-friendly environment” is a popular strategy. …. Have Fun Boys … But Try Not To Get Caught – is often the motto.
I believe Lane Kiffin is created likely falsely with “Angels Don’t Play Football … So We Don’t Recruit Angels”. Briles was not recruiting “Angels” during Baylor’s Hey Day … and he had to know it … applying “situational ethics” when called for. He was neither the first nor last HFBC to do so.
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They didn’t “clear” Rape U..er.. Baylor or Warden Art at all, the NCAA punted. They just threw their hands up and walked away like they did in sticky cases before like Miami (Fla.), Auburn and $cam, or any other of a number of fairly flagrant cases of absolute disregard, or even absolute contempt of “The Rules” shown by Coaches, Universities, and Athletic Departments. Oh, but Boise State was made to pay!
The NCAA is a joke. A protection racket. They should be hiding under their desks in abject shame.
I’m sure it’s of little consolation to his bank account. The media in this country is a cancer. Caused by the internet and the unwillingness for news organizations to adapt effectively.