Boise St. more morally grounded than Baylor?

SilverEagle · August 21, 2015

"When Art Briles recruited Sam Ukwuachu to Baylor University , he turned every female on campus into a potential victim. When Briles' superiors signed off on bringing the talented defensive end to Waco, they tacitly approved of putting students in harm's way."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/big12/2015/08/20/baylor-football-sam-ukwuachu-convicted-sex-assault/32090059/

UNT90 · August 21, 2015

Ouch!

Aldo · August 21, 2015

hahahaha

foutsrouts · August 21, 2015

I know of a similar situation in Waco a few years ago where it was paid off and brushed under the rug. Makes you wonder just how many there really are that go unreported.

untjim1995 · August 21, 2015

Baylor has a history of this crap--from this guy, to LaceDarius Dunn punching his girlfriend in the jaw and breaking it and getting suspended for a few non-conference games, to the ultimate sorriness, Patrick Dennehy killing his teammate and Dave Bliss trying to cover it up by making the dead player out to be a drug addict.

Cr1028 · August 21, 2015

Ridiculous story. So this means every athlete with a temper who breaks a window in front of his girlfriend is a likely rapist and a threat to every woman on campus? Get real, the story says nothing of rape at Boise, only a rage issue.

Harry · August 21, 2015

Baylor thing will blow over quick. ESPN and other media will protect their goose ($$$ / TV contract) that lays their golden Baylor egg.

SilverEagle · August 21, 2015

I know of a similar situation in Waco a few years ago where it was paid off and brushed under the rug. Makes you wonder just how many there really are that go unreported.

It means that Boise St. probably knew something else, and Baylor obviously didn't ask what that was.

untjim1995 · August 21, 2015

Baylor thing will blow over quick. ESPN and other media will protect their goose ($$$ / TV contract) that lays their golden Baylor egg.

Actually, as soon as Texas Monthly got a hold of this. the first thing I thought was that the UT juggernaut on journalism in this state is coming to the rescue again. They've lost 4 of 5 to Baylor--they don't have their guy on the NCAA Infractions Committee anymore, but they still have a lot of graduates in the media in this state.

TCU, you're on warning right now. You beat these guys badly on the field for too many years, they will use their connections to fix it real quick when they don't have a great program themselves.

foutsrouts · August 21, 2015

Here's the Texas Monthly article for those who missed it. Briles and Co. obviously were just hoping it would go away.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/article/silence-at-baylor/

UNT 90 Grad · August 21, 2015

UNT turns every street without a sidewalk into a potential victim.

Cr1028 · August 21, 2015

Actually, as soon as Texas Monthly got a hold of this. the first thing I thought was that the UT juggernaut on journalism in this state is coming to the rescue again. They've lost 4 of 5 to Baylor--they don't have their guy on the NCAA Infractions Committee anymore, but they still have a lot of graduates in the media in this state.
TCU, you're on warning right now. You beat these guys badly on the field for too many years, they will use their connections to fix it real quick when they don't have a great program themselves.

This was my initial thought as well, like when SMU got too good too fast in the 80s. Yes they cheated but they certainly weren't the only ones. It's Baylor's turn to be taken down by the "traditional powers".

Edited August 21, 2015 by Cr1028

Graddean · August 21, 2015

Come on. We are going to blame the media and traditional powers because Baylor did wrong. As a Southern Baptist, I am ashamed of the behavior of the people at Baylor. Briles, the AD, and the president should all be shown the door. Boise determined he was a threat to the campus. Baylor knew this and took him anyway.

Cougar King · August 21, 2015

Baylor has a history of this crap--from this guy, to LaceDarius Dunn punching his girlfriend in the jaw and breaking it and getting suspended for a few non-conference games, to the ultimate sorriness, Patrick Dennehy killing his teammate and Dave Bliss trying to cover it up by making the dead player out to be a drug addict.

Dude you got it backwards. Patrick Dennehy was murdered by Carlton Dotson.

GreenTexan13 · August 21, 2015

Sometimes I shake my head when it comes to both CFB and the NFL. This kind of stuff turns into so much of a business over a moral mentality, that they will ignore a bad rap sheet just so they can win. If a player has a history of violence like this, he shouldn't even be allowed to play football anymore.

Cr1028 · August 21, 2015

Come on. We are going to blame the media and traditional powers because Baylor did wrong. As a Southern Baptist, I am ashamed of the behavior of the people at Baylor. Briles, the AD, and the president should all be shown the door. Boise determined he was a threat to the campus. Baylor knew this and took him anyway.

Below I've posted the article in its entirety. I have bolded the things he did at Boise. I fail to see how one violent outburst (not of a sexual nature) is supposed to end his FBS career. How did he turn every female on campus into a potential victim? Every girl had the potential to be his girlfriend, and had the potential to get into a domestic dispute with him, and the potential that he may break a window during said domestic dispute? I'm not saying this guy is a saint or even if he deserved a shot at Baylor. I am saying that this writing is garbage and this guy is making HUGE leaps in his story. The only thing Briles did wrong IMO is not keep better tabs on the kid while he was at Baylor, same could be said for Texas though. (Meander and Sanders anybody?)

When Art Briles recruited Sam Ukwuachu to Baylor University, he turned every female on campus into a potential victim. When Briles' superiors signed off on bringing the talented defensive end to Waco, they tacitly approved of putting students in harm's way.
It was all right there in the most basic of investigations into Ukwuachu's exit from Boise State, when he was dismissed from the program in May 2013 because he attacked his girlfriend. Despite the clear warning signs of violent behavior, Baylor had brought Ukwuachu into their community because, by golly, he sure could help the pass rush. Five months later, all that had really changed about Ukwuachu's tendencies was the venue.
On Thursday, in a district court in Waco, Ukwuachu was found guilty of sexually assaulting a former Baylor women's soccer player, who was 18 and in her first semester of college in October 2013 when the big-shot football transfer twice her size attacked her.
Maybe if she had been warned that the Baylor football player in her tutoring sessions once became so crazed during a domestic dispute at Boise that he broke a window, she wouldn't have even been in position to be in his apartment that night. Maybe if Briles, athletics director Ian McCaw and school president Ken Starr had looked at his background and realized Ukwuachu didn't belong at Baylor, she wouldn't have had to go get a rape kit the next morning.
Ukwuachu, who is expected to be sentenced on Friday, never played a down of football for Baylor, but that really isn't the point.
Whether he played or not doesn't change the fact that he would have never been given a scholarship without a football talent so irresistible to Briles that the obvious red flags were rationalized or outright ignored.
And it's time college coaches and athletics administrators start being held accountable for recruiting decisions that put other students at risk. Is it really too much to ask the highest-paid person at a university to consider the safety of the campus community when he puts together his football roster?
There are plenty of problems with the way Baylor handled this. Its internal investigation of the rape allegation was so insufficient that the judge wouldn't allow it to be used by Ukwuachu's lawyer during the trial, according to an article in Texas Monthly. Baylor's lack of transparency about the situation and the inept performance of the local media in pursuing why Ukwuachu was suspended for the 2014 season all point to a program that was hoping it would go away.
A statement released by the university's public relations department following the verdict said: "Acts of sexual violence contradict every value Baylor University upholds as a Christian community. In recent years we have joined university efforts nationally to prevent campus violence against women and sexual assault, to actively support survivors of sexual assault with compassion and care, and to take action against perpetrators. We have established and fully staffed a Title IX office that employs a Title IX Coordinator and two full-time investigators. Maintaining a safe and caring community is central to Baylor's mission and at the heart of our commitment to our students, faculty and staff."
That sounds nice, but in reality this was an avoidable situation for Baylor. Without the cult of the coach and the mythical narrative of second chances, any legitimate, objective investigation into why Ukwuachu was thrown out of Boise State would have yielded significant enough concerns to move along to the next defensive end.
Of course mistakes happen, some of which could never be predicted. Of course there are going to be issues with a team of 18-to-22 year olds. Of course some people deserve second chances.
But the idea that football exists at a place like Baylor to harbor and rehabilitate someone with a documented history of issues like the ones that got Ukwuachu thrown out of Boise State? That's lunacy, and it shouldn't be acceptable for anyone sending a daughter to college.
Briles and his administrative enablers were willing to ignore that risk because Ukwuachu was good at football, just like Alabama's Nick Saban rationalized Jonathan Taylor's domestic violence issues at Georgia (he's since been dismissed).
They aren't the first and they won't be the last, but it's time for people who care about college football to stop absolving the Coach Almighty from their responsibility in making campuses safe for women.
Link to article

Edited August 21, 2015 by Cr1028

Mean_Green09 · August 21, 2015

“After Sam Ukwuchu was dismissed from the Boise State football program and expressed an interest in transferring to Baylor, I initiated a call with coach Art Briles,” Petersen said in a released statement Friday afternoon (via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com). “In that conversation, I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam’s disciplinary record and dismissal.”

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/21/chris-petersen-says-he-told-art-briles-all-about-sam-ukwuachus-violent-past/

Coach Briles is being a bit shady.

North Texas Shep · August 21, 2015

Briles is one of the lizard people. Watch out! Cold blooded!

greenit · August 21, 2015

Having a higher moral compass than Baylor athletics is truly one of the lowest bars you can have.

Cr1028 · August 21, 2015

“After Sam Ukwuchu was dismissed from the Boise State football program and expressed an interest in transferring to Baylor, I initiated a call with coach Art Briles,” Petersen said in a released statement Friday afternoon (via Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com). “In that conversation, I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam’s disciplinary record and dismissal.”

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/21/chris-petersen-says-he-told-art-briles-all-about-sam-ukwuachus-violent-past/
Coach Briles is being a bit shady.

Is it not possible that Peterson is being a bit shady? Question, no info.

untjim1995 · August 21, 2015

Could Art Briles lose his job because of this?

Paulie Walnuts · August 21, 2015

Below I've posted the article in its entirety. I have bolded the things he did at Boise. I fail to see how one violent outburst (not of a sexual nature) is supposed to end his FBS career. How did he turn every female on campus into a potential victim? Every girl had the potential to be his girlfriend, and had the potential to get into a domestic dispute with him, and the potential that he may break a window during said domestic dispute? I'm not saying this guy is a saint or even if he deserved a shot at Baylor. I am saying that this writing is garbage and this guy is making HUGE leaps in his story. The only thing Briles did wrong IMO is not keep better tabs on the kid while he was here, same could be said for Texas though. (Meander and Sanders anybody?)

You seem to be missing the fact that he was just convicted thursday of SEXUAL ASSAULT. Its in the article, but you didnt put that part in bold.

Army of Dad · August 21, 2015

You seem to be missing the fact that he was just convicted thursday of SEXUAL ASSAULT. Its in the article, but you didnt put that part in bold.

Ok, but he wasn't convicted or even accused of that from his time in Boise. Since the big issue appears to be what Baylor knew or should have known before this guy came to campus it's not surprising that portion wasn't bolded.

Mean_Green09 · August 21, 2015

Is it not possible that Peterson is being a bit shady? Question, no info.

Your right its possible, but he did dismiss the kid. Also just my opinion but Peterson built the Boise program on doing things the right way. He made a point of bringing in kids with good character. To me and its just me, but I trust Peterson more than Briles.

Paulie Walnuts · August 21, 2015

Ok, but he wasn't convicted or even accused of that from his time in Boise. Since the big issue appears to be what Baylor knew or should have known before this guy came to campus it's not surprising that portion wasn't bolded.

Ahh. Got it now.