Does Briles get a free pass?

[SmooBoy]

If Baylor was coming off 6-6, I would think his head would roll. But since he's in charge of the money maker for Waco, he'll probably find a way to avoid penalty of any sort.

Once again, winningfootball>domesticviolence.

[Bergermeister]

Probably go away like Joey McGuire's DWI. A state championship makes a 4:00 a.m. DWI look mighty insignificant. Now, 5-5 might have been another story.

[Stallion]

This is a great example of why the school not a Head Coach should have final say on character issue admission. Don't forget both SMU Basketball and Football have considered admitting players with serious character issues but ultimately they weren't admitted. Gets you excited when a 5 star Point Guard or a former 4 star RB wants to transfer in -but in the long run I really think they are more trouble than they are worth and can do spectacular damage to a program. This is when you got to have some people willing to stand up to a Coach and say No. No I don't want a push over in the administration considering such admissions but want some one to do their due diligence and fairly judge a kid

[ponynut]

I so much agree. Nobody wants a super sports program more than I, but the reputation of the school has to come first.

[SoCal_Pony]

This is a great example of why the school not a Head Coach should have final say on character issue admission. Don't forget both SMU Basketball and Football have considered admitting players with serious character issues but ultimately they weren't admitted. Gets you excited when a 5 star Point Guard or a former 4 star RB wants to transfer in -but in the long run I really think they are more trouble than they are worth and can do spectacular damage to a program. This is when you got to have some people willing to stand up to a Coach and say No. No I don't want a push over in the administration considering such admissions but want some one to do their due diligence and fairly judge a kid

You mean Ken Starr?

[WordUpBU]

It honestly depends on if there is anything credible indicating he did either of the following:

A- Knew of any violent history with women prior to taking him on

B- Tampered with the internal investigation

C- Had any influence over anything that happened with the girl, her scholarship, etc afterwards.

B & C I don't understand where he would or could but time will tell.

On item A regarding what he did or didn't know, there have been documents from BSU that BU released indicating no disciplinary history of violent behavior towards anyone.

Furthermore the HS coach of the player also talked with Boise State's Peterson at the time and backs Briles recollection of what he was told completely. No mention of violent behavior.

Now I am not calling Peterson a liar, his statement regarding what he told Briles merely says he told him of his disciplinary history. If that didn't have anything on violent behavior then none of the three are lying.

[smusic 00]

Over under on how many months after bcs bowls their internal report comes out?

[WordUpBU]

Here is the link to the HS coach:
http://www.1660espn.com/tony-heath/

"(David Smoak) What were you told when Sam Ukwuachu was dismissed from the Boise State football team?

(Tony Heath) I was told the staff was very concerned about Sam being depressed and violent towards himself and their worries were for him, never once did they ever tell me he had struck or hit a female or had a violent encounter with anyone. I spoke with Chris Petersen during Sam’s redshirt freshman year about his depression and insubordination, but I haven’t spoken with Coach Petersen since. The communication I heard after Sam’s release was with the Boise State assistant coaches."

...
(David Smoak) Have you read Art Briles’ statement about Sam Ukwuachu and the conversation he (Coach Briles) had with Chris Petersen?

(Tony Heath) Yes, I have, and what Art said in his statement is exactly what I was told by the Boise State coaching staff and also shared that same information with Baylor’s assistant coaches."

This would certainly back Briles in not knowing about SU.

However it doesn't mean BU judicial affairs or T9 personnel did things right.

[SoCal_Pony]

It honestly depends on if there is anything credible indicating he did either of the following:

A- Knew of any violent history with women prior to taking him on

B- Tampered with the internal investigation

C- Had any influence over anything that happened with the girl, her scholarship, etc afterwards.

B & C I don't understand where he would or could but time will tell.

On item A regarding what he did or didn't know, there have been documents from BSU that BU released indicating no disciplinary history of violent behavior towards anyone.

Furthermore the HS coach of the player also talked with Boise State's Peterson at the time and backs Briles recollection of what he was told completely. No mention of violent behavior.

Now I am not calling Peterson a liar, his statement regarding what he told Briles merely says he told him of his disciplinary history. If that didn't have anything on violent behavior then none of the three are lying.

Try to spin it all you want, the treatment of the girl afterwards, including your BS investigation, speaks volumes. I wonder if the MSM might be more interested in this story due to your Prez. BJs in the White House leads to impeachment of the most powerful man in the world, Rape of a teenage girl???, well....let's think about that for a moment, we have to balance this against a potential NC run.

[WordUpBU]

It honestly depends on if there is anything credible indicating he did either of the following:

A- Knew of any violent history with women prior to taking him on

B- Tampered with the internal investigation

C- Had any influence over anything that happened with the girl, her scholarship, etc afterwards.

B & C I don't understand where he would or could but time will tell.

On item A regarding what he did or didn't know, there have been documents from BSU that BU released indicating no disciplinary history of violent behavior towards anyone.

Furthermore the HS coach of the player also talked with Boise State's Peterson at the time and backs Briles recollection of what he was told completely. No mention of violent behavior.

Now I am not calling Peterson a liar, his statement regarding what he told Briles merely says he told him of his disciplinary history. If that didn't have anything on violent behavior then none of the three are lying.

Try to spin it all you want

Spin what? I offered my opinion on what would effect Briles and where he would potentially be at fault. Time will tell on two of the points but one of them seems to be a truthful statement from the guy regarding Peterson.

the treatment of the girl afterwards, including your BS investigation, speaks volumes.

As I mentioned above, the T9 and judicial affairs groups clearly screwed up and heads deserve to roll unless significant evidence dramatically changes what we know.

I wonder if the MSM might be more interested in this story due to your Prez. BJs in the White House leads to impeachment of the most powerful man in the world,

You'd have to ask the MSM about that

Rape of a teenage girl???, well....let's think about that for a moment, we have to balance this against a potential NC run.

You act like Starr had any involvement in the investigation. Like most University Presidents he likely trusted his judicial affairs teams to do their jobs. How often is Turner involved in judicial affairs investigations at SMU?

I am all for heads rolling in T9 and Judicial Affairs over this where warranted. However implying either Starr or Briles had anything to do with the investigation is at minimum speculative.

If either one tampered with the investigation or knew of the player abusing women when they admitted him by all means fire em and let the legal system have em. With that said there is zero evidence I have seen that either did.

[Bergermeister]

Since we're not in court, let's just have everyone take a polygraph and make the results public.

[Pony in SA]

He will, but that does not necessarily make it right. It's just big time athletics and if Briles did not have the success he has it would be looked at differently by many.

It seems comical for someone to believe either he or his staff never asked why the kid was now coming to Baylor and why Boise State wanted him gone. Even if you hire an upaid intern in today's climate you have to do background check, heck to volunteer at most schools you have to register so they can do a background check.

If you don't have kids, you probably view his differently.
If you are a parent and have a daughter you view this differently.
If you were a rape victim, or have family members who were raped, you view this differently.
If you are not connected to Baylor somehow you view this differently.

Most objective people who don't even know about sports realize the kid got special treatment on many levels (just being admitted to university is one of them). What the judge did who has Baylor connections in reducing the recommendation of the jury by that much is out of the ordinary, and lacked consideration for the jury and the victim.

Baylor is scrambling to cover right now as one would expect, just as one should not expect their own investigation by their own people to really find anything. They will pin any fault at all on low level school employee for bad investigation and they will be made to be fall guy. Briles will be saved and school will be saved. I don't think Starr would have allowed Clinton to do his own investigation by his own lawyer of his troubles.

But regardless, the prayers and concern should be for the victim whose life was altered and girls before her. Not so much for the school who in the end brought this on themselves.

[SoCal_Pony]

BU,

You're a baylor supporter coming to an SMU board, of course you are spinning it.

Here's how it goes down....

Mr. President, one of your students just got raped by another student. Accused is not just any old student, but a FOOTBALL player. And not just any old football player, but an All-American who transferred from Boise St due to 'personal' reasons.

This leads to an investigation by baylor which was so slipshod that a judge kept it out of the trail while your DC would say this summer 'Ukwuachu is a guy we're expecting to be back'.

And you come on this board and DEFEND this?....or say, let's NOW do an investigation and let heads roll (in judicial affairs, of course).

Here's the truth BU. He's your President. And not just any president, but a former Solicitor General. There's been only 46 Solicitor General's in our country's history, including 2 current Supreme Court justices. HE takes ownership of this mess, 'maybe' not as much pre-rape, but certainly 100% post rape, including that weak internal investigation. That comes with the territory....PRESIDENT.

[stc9]

Emotionally, I would love to see the entire School crucified over this. I would really love them to get a Pedophile State kind of punishment - only this time have it enforced.

Trying to look at this objectively (and even removing football from the equation), I don't think any university handles these situations well. School employees are not trained investigators, nor do they have the ability to gain testimony under oath. If I knew of a young lady in this situation, I would advise her to go straight to the local police instead of reporting it to the school first. I would have the local police discuss it with the school. But this way an appropriate investigation has already been started.

As far as the rest of this story, Baylor did a couple of things that look awful.
1). The young lady was suffering from PTSD and they reduced her soccer scholarship because she couldn't rehab her injury well enough.
2). The school only interviewed one witness on the young lady's behalf (there were 7 who brought her home that night). The alibi witness for the attacker, was caught in a flat out lie to the school and there has no mention of potential punishment for him.
3). The school changed the victim's schedule to separate her from her attacker. That should have been reversed. They also had them eat in different dining halls, hers was less convenient. That should have been reversed as well.

I don't know what the Coaches knew or didn't know beforehand. At this point outsiders are never going to get the truth because Baylor is going to settle this out of court. Again, if I knew the young lady, I would advise her to do this so she doesn't have to publicly relive this yet again. A big part of me would love this to go to trial, but I just couldn't ask that of the victim. The end result is that the entire coaching staff will get a pass (as long as they keep winning)

[EastStang]

I guess the penalty depends on what UT wants done. After all, they control the NCAA. If the Whorns want Baylor fileted, then they'll get the Sandusky treatment even if the NCAA backs off from it a year later. As we all know, once the damage is done, it takes years to reverse it. Watch UT's reaction and you'll know Baylor's fate.