Good to see the healing in Waco proceeds.
Billionaire businessman Drayton McLane, who name adorns the Baylor University football stadium, said Thursday he wants to see fired football coach Art Briles’ honor “restored” and any evidence that led to his dismissal publicly released by the school’s board of regents.
Yeah, because if nothing else comes out of the whole mess, at least they can see to it that Art Briles gets his mojo back.
Fortunately, the NCAA is willing to pitch in and do its part to help the process along.
With Baylor University at war with itself over the firing of its football coach in the wake of a sexual-assault scandal, this qualifies as good news: The NCAA is not planning to bring the hammer down on Baylor the way it did Penn State.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has notified Baylor that it won’t exert its executive authority to impose sweeping sanctions against the school for broad institutional failings, and will instead follow its normal investigative process, according to people familiar with the matter.
Honestly, no one should be surprised by that. Some of Mark Emmert’s chickens have come home to roost, that’s all.
The NCAA decision indicates Baylor—at least for now—will not be subject to the sort of harsh sanctions the NCAA imposed on Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal. That case, in which the former assistant football coach was convicted of abusing boys over a 15-year period, was viewed by many as a potential precedent for Baylor since it also involved alleged criminal activity within the athletic department but not clear-cut NCAA violations.
Under pressure from the NCAA, which cited a broad “failure of institutional integrity,” Penn State after the Sandusky scandal vacated 111 wins under Coach Joe Paterno, accepted a four-year bowl ban, reduced football scholarships and agreed to pay $60 million to fight child abuse. Many of those sanctions have since been vacated after a series of legal challenges.
The NCAA’s aggression in the Penn State case “really backfired,” says B. David Ridpath, an Ohio University professor of sports administration. “I doubt you will ever see the NCAA do anything like that again.”
As some warned at the time, there are inevitable consequences when the head of a powerful organization decides to run off on his own and disregard established rules and protocols to show the world his oversized concern about a matter.
If it all works out the way things appear to be headed, rest assured that nobody at Baylor or the NCAA will have any lasting regrets. Nice for them.
Get The Picture 
NCAA – never let a good crisis go to waste
Baylor – in a couple of years, welcome back to irrelevance
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“There are inevitable consequences when the head of a powerful organization decides to run off on his own and disregard established rules and protocols…” Really? We can only hope.
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“Honor us a thing a man gives to himself”
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I think Drayton McLane was simply asking for transparency on the situation because if he hasn’t been given the facts from the investigation, everyone around Waco is flying in the blind, and are those who are flinging mud from afar. If you had given the tens of millions to Baylor that he has, and put your name on the stadium, wouldn’t you want access to what has jeopardized your alma mater’s good name/reputation, and by association, your own? Rather startling that the school and the law firm has been this tightlipped about something that affects so many. Don’t know what that might reveal, certainly some bad things, but where did it go? How high? And have some gotten away with their role while others got tarred? We just don’t know all the facts yet, but getting it right, and opening it up is the best way to find out.
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He wants Briles “honor restored.” Sounds like he already knows what he wants to find. Already made up his mind no matter what. That ain’t transparency.
But I agree the findings should be made public. I suspect some of the current coaches are involved.
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The prevailing mood around key alumni are that the problems and investigation process were so badly managed they want full disclosure. No one yet really understands what happened and who played what role. It’s a small number…very small…that want Briles restored. Most believe he knew something, but is taking a disproportionate amount of the blame…or maybe not, but they just don’t know.
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So there were 2 players that played football under Briles convicted and serving time for sexual assault and a 3rd currently on trial and all of them completed their eligibility. Sure seems like a lot of smoke.
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Not to mention the fact that the law firm Baylor hired to clear their name ended up throwing them under the bus. It was at that point that they put a tight lid on everything.
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I have known the man closely for over thirty years in both business, and social, situations. You will excuse me for thinking your cynical bs firing cheap shots on the internet means absolutely nothing at all. In my 67 years, I have met exactly zero people I would put above him when it comes to character or integrity…..and that includes from pretty special Americans. If he asks this, he does not know, but has legit reasons to inquire.
I can assure those who lack your “special insight” that he would never turn away from , or sweep away, any misconduct. But Drayton does have the right to know since he himself is exposed with his support of both the school, and the program. If Briles is as guilty as most feel, he will be dead to him, he will defend him any longer. None of us know more than the headlines at this point, and yes, the situation smells from our perspective. It is most surprising that this close group has been excluded from more of this investigation, but it isn’t surprising to me that he wouldn’t throw someone under the bus without knowing the facts/involvement.
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