Baylor football’s failure in sexual assault allegations does not lie with them alone

By Michael Collins | May 18, 2016

Oct 17, 2015; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears head coach Art Briles watches his team warm up before the game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at McLane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baylor football program is in the news again for all the wrong reasons, but the ongoing problem of physical and sexual violence being brought into daylight there is merely a symptom of a bigger problem.

The NFL has been dealing with it (or not dealing with it) for a few years now – the problem of sexual and domestic violence among the ranks of their players, and how it affects more than just the image of the NFL shield.

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When most people think about problems in the ranks of college football, they probably think of academic fraud, recruiting violations and drug use. But violence against women is not just a problem that begins when these young men join the ranks of the professionals.

No, it begins long before the NFL Draft.

It is systemic, it is ingrained in their alpha-male heads from a very young age, and it has been mostly ignored by the NCAA and by many programs under its watch.

Just in the last several years, we’ve seen instances of players being accused, arrested and suspended or dismissed from programs at Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State, Florida State, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Miami, Texas and Oklahoma…and those are just the big-name programs and the incidents that were actually reported.

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The ongoing investigation at Baylor, and the newly uncovered evidence that more incidents of sexual assault went unreported by the university, represent the worst-case scenario. A school seemingly so concerned with not losing ground in the race for cash and power that they put the rights and lives of innocent individuals in harms way.

This is about much more than concern for an individual player or keeping things looking nice and tidy. This is the very thing which the NCAA lambasted Penn State for during the Jerry Sandusky scandal – lack of institutional control.

In a collusion of athletic program, school administration and local authorities, sexual assault allegations allegedly went uninvestigated, unreported, and unpunished – violating federal laws and Title IX directives.

But the failure does not lie with Baylor alone (although it seems they’ve earned their fair share of blame), it lies with a system which has gone unchecked and unchanged for decades. The protection of “the program” and the concern for the rights of the accused have been paramount in the eyes of administrators and lawmakers for too long.

And for what reason? So everyone can continue to make a buck…or few million. So players don’t have their futures placed in jeopardy. So the narrative at certain programs always looks appealing to recruits and their parents.

Players are dismissed from programs, only to be given opportunities at scholarships and a career at another school. Some end up making the same mistakes again, as was seen in the case of Jonathan Taylor last year.

The almighty dollar triumphs once again over justice and humanity.

It’s time the victims had their day, and that violence against women was taken more seriously than any potential academic or recruiting violation.

Maybe the situation at Baylor will serve as a wake-up call, and the NCAA will begin looking at these cases with much more urgency and treating them with more severe action. Schools who mask sexual assault or domestic violence charges should suffer fates worse than those found guilty of “paying” players (who should be earning it anyway).

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There’s a long way to go in the investigation circling around Waco, and more ugliness is certain to be found. Perhaps that’s the best thing for everyone, as no changes will ever be made until those who are involved in cover-ups and intimidation are forced to come out of the shadows and answer for their crimes.

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