Drunk on winning

If you haven't read the story of the Baylor football player that raped another Baylor student, a freshman soccer player, then stop and read it. http://www.texasmonthly.com/article/silence-at-baylor/
Don't read the comments on the article, you will lose hope in all humanity.  Up front, I love Texas Longhorns football.  While I don't like Baylor, they aren't near as bad as ou or a&m, as far as my hatred goes.  I like Art Briles quite a bit.  While he was here at the Fiesta Bowl a couple of years ago, he was interviewing to coach in Austin. At the time, I was pumped about the chances of him having UT as a backdrop to bring in the top football talent in the country.  All of the good that Art Briles has done in his life, in my opinion, has been erased by looking the other way because he had a guy transfer to his program that would be a bad ass on defense, without regard to the other people on his campus. That player raped a female student.  Again, his player raped a female Baylor student.  

Let's do a little back story.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylor_Bears_football.  The important numbers to the right of the page are these; the year they started playing football, their all time record (barely above .500), the number of national championships (0), and when their new stadium was built.  The only success that Baylor has had in their football program is with Art Briles as their head coach.  McClane is stadium should have his name on it.  It should, I'm not kidding. The problem with that, is when your name should be on the building, I think it's really easy to be short sighted.  I think winning becomes the only thing a guy can be concerned with at a certain point.  I don't think Briles is a bad person.  I think he made a horrible decision. I actually think he's made more horrible decisions that haven't been reported by the Waco media because they feed their families with Baylor football, or they are alumni and wear green and gold glasses.  Why didn't Briles dismiss the kid from the program until the case was either over, or he was convicted?  Why put all your eggs in this kid's basket?  It's really strange to me that Briles would try to cover all of this up. 

College football coaches aren't just college football coaches anymore. They're CEO's of massive companies.  Baylor football generated nearly $30 million last year.  That's a lot of money.  Baylor is worth $266 million.  Baylor, in Waco, is worth $266 million.  Unbelievable.  I can't imagine a CEO of a company willfully letting a man, who was indicted and later convicted of rape, just roam free on campus.  At best it's irresponsible, at worst, it's a crime. If you're willing to overlook a predator because you think he's going to sack the opposing team's quarterback a lot, you're just as responsible for the crime committed as the person who committed it.

The football season starts Thursday, Baylor plays on friday.  The announcers won't mention one word of this because Baylor is a preseason favorite to win it all.  I'll remember though.  That girl will remember.  Her Dad will remember.  I'm guessing that Art will too.  Your coach can't be bigger than your program.  Winning at all costs isn't winning when it's all said and done. I would hope that there are some Baylor higher ups that are losing some sleep because they're overlooking their own Baptist code of ethics on this matter.  If this was going on at UT, I would want Charlie fired immediately.

The fact that the jury in this case didn't want to give the guy any jail time, is bewildering.  The facts were clear.  The judge intervened and did the only thing that Texas state law would allow and at least gave him six months in jail.  I hope those are the longest six months of his life. I hope he comes out rehabilitated and understanding his depravity.  I'm hopeful for that, but I don't believe it.  This will happen again, to another innocent woman.  These people can't be fixed.  The correct response for a coach in all of these situations should be to not want to touch him with a ten foot pole.  Will Muschamp, the former coach at Florida, turned down this transfer.  Florida has a long storied history of letting anyone play there.  Not this guy though.  Strange.  It's almost as if there was some information on this kid that made him not want this guy.  I refuse to use his name.  He doesn't deserve it.  Good job Will Muschamp.  Way to look out for the ladies in Gainesville.  It may have been the best thing you did during your tenure as head coach.


A little disclaimer: these opinions are my own.  I don't have any inside info.  No one was consulted when I wrote this post.  Oh yeah. HOOK EM!