Yes, The NCAA Should Hammer Baylor After Pepper Hamilton Report

Baylor is in the process of getting destroyed in the court of public opinion over the school’s non-existent response to repeated sexual assaults by its football players. Now it’s time for the NCAA to step in and hammer the school for its disgraceful conduct.

The NCAA has a long track record of not caring about academic or institutional misconduct, but if an athlete has the audacity to try and profit off his or her stardom, they jump on the case in a nanosecond. It’s time to flip that script, because I’m fairly certain most people don’t care if a college football player gets a little cash on the side, but repeated sexual assaults by athletes are another matter entirely.

The investigation and report turned in by law firm Pepper Hamilton was stunning in its revelations. Chief among the findings was a complete disregard for Title IX rules and the lack of proper investigations into repeated instances of sexual violence. The most damning quote for me was the following regarding the university’s overall approach to any Title IX investigation: “Investigations were conducted in the context of a broader culture and belief by many administrators that sexual violence ‘doesn’t happen here.'” I mean…just, wow. Yes, Baylor is a religious school, but the fact that administrators at a university in the 21st century truly believed things like that didn’t happen at their school is stunningly naive and should border on criminal negligence.

The laundry list of charges against the football program were not only embarrassing but scary. Coaches and administrators ignored a repeated pattern of sexual assaults by football players, helped them avoid punishment, handled investigations internally, stifled Title IX investigations and used an internal system of discipline reliant on individual judgement.

Art Briles was fired Thursday as a result of the report, university president Ken Starr was reassigned to the role of chancellor and athletic director Ian McCaw was “sanctioned and placed on probation.” I think I speak for everyone when I say that’s not good enough.

If I’m the NCAA watching this from the outside I am not seeing enough firing going on to lead me to believe these moves will radically change the culture at Baylor. I know some believe the organization should never step in and punish a school when legal violations occur, but even those observers must admit this is a special case. Baylor clearly prioritized winning football games over the health and safety of its student body. The university must be punished for that.

One of the NCAA’s core values is, “The supporting role that intercollegiate athletics plays in the higher education mission and in enhancing the sense of community and strengthening the identity of member institutions.” Another is, “The highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship.” Baylor football has failed to live up to either of those values and as a member institution it must face consequences.

Some will cry that punishing the football program will only hurt the players currently there. Fine, then strip Baylor of all television revenue for five years. The football team can be on television and the current players will get to benefit from that, but the school should not be allowed to collect revenue from its media contracts.

Next, remove all of Briles’ wins from his career record and force his name to be scrubbed from the school’s history books. Then demand all of the school’s football profits be redirected towards charities that foster awareness of sexual assaults on college campuses and provide help for victims. As far as I’m concerned, Baylor can keep its scholarships, play in the postseason and be on television, but the school’s administrators shouldn’t be allowed to profit from football for the next few years. Do that and see how quickly other schools clean up their acts.

The NCAA – and the rest of us – should also demand that Starr and McCaw are completely removed from Baylor. They don’t deserve to have their jobs anymore, not after this.

If USC’s football program was nearly destroyed because Reggie Bush and his family took money from an agent with no association to the school, Baylor’s should be crushed for a complete lack of response to repeated sexual assaults.

The university built a brand new football facility largely on the back of Briles’ success. Now we know the actual cost of McLane Stadium, and it’s far more than $266 million. It was the lives and security of the women of Waco, Texas. Those students were daughters and sisters, and what Baylor allowed to happen to them was unconscionable. The football program should be buried underneath that gleaming monolith of a stadium and the university should have to face the indignity of somehow finding a way to put itself back together afterwards. Maybe then the institution will finally be able to sympathize with those who were assaulted.

The victims deserve at least that much.