The Big 12 Board Just Slapped Baylor

[docabel]

The Big 12 Conference Board of Directors voted unanimously to withhold one-quarter (25 percent) of future revenue distribution payments to Baylor University, pending the outcome of third-party verification review of required changes to BaylorΓÇÖs athletics procedures and to institutional governance of its intercollegiate athletics programs, among other matters.

ΓÇ£The Board is unified in establishing a process to verify that proper institutional controls are in place and sustainable,ΓÇ¥ said University of Oklahoma president and Big 12 Conference Board of Directors chairman David Boren. ΓÇ£Effective immediately, the Conference is withholding 25 percent of BaylorΓÇÖs share of any future revenue distribution until the proper execution of controls is independently verified. By taking these actions the Board desires to ensure that the changes that were promised are actually made and that systems are in place to avoid future problems. The proportional withholding of revenue distribution payments will be in effect until the Board has determined that Baylor is in compliance with Conference bylaws and regulations as well as all components of Title IX.ΓÇ¥

Baylor was not included in the Board vote and will be responsible for all associated costs.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Wow! It's about time somebody did something!

[docabel]

It is something, although I bet it will not have much effect. The way I am reading this is that they are simply "withholding" the money. Once Baylor can prove they are in compliance with Title IX, they will get the money...

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

This whole Baylor mess has really made me wonder how widespread criminality is among major college sports programs. In this case it was rape. . . but it could be any number of other crimes as well. At how many schools are these things "swept under the rug", "handled in-house", not reported to law enforcement, etc.? Baylor got massively caught, the offenses are particularly repellent, and there is a paper-trail a mile long to hang the powers-that-be there, but is what happened at Baylor really that much different than at other schools? Would rapist football players at Alabama, Mississippi State, Ohio State, etc. get treated much differently?

Total speculation on my part and I don't have a shred of evidence against any of those programs or anyone else, but it does make me wonder. We know that a serial child molester at Penn State was allowed to carry on his criminal activities for a long time due to a cover up and "in-house" handling. How many times have we read about players at any number of schools being disciplined for "unspecified violations of team rules". . . what the hell does that even mean? These programs shield this stuff behind a privacy wall. . . but is Baylor really as much an outlier as we all like to think they are?

[StallionsModelT]

What happened at BU could've happened anywhere. If you think there aren't coaches, boosters, administrators, etc. at virtually every major program in the country doing something dirty then you have your head buried in the sand.

[sadderbudweiser]

http://www.espn.com/college-sports/stor ... ed-changes

[NTXCoog]

Wow! It's about time somebody did something!

This is nothing. They're holding the money until changes are made. Most likely they'll find the changes already made are sufficient and little to no money will be withheld. Even if the changes aren't considered sufficient, the money will still be held until they are sufficient. So they aren't losing any money. The money is just being held for them to get later. The only way Baylor loses on this is if they never make sufficient changes.

[gostangs]

How very Big 12 of them to try to grab extra money out of this....

A better solution would be just to have SMU and Baylor switch places. Improve the conference academics and the conference media market and carve Waco out of the list of crappy places in the Big 12.

[SoCal_Pony]

This whole Baylor mess has really made me wonder how widespread criminality is among major college sports programs. In this case it was rape. . . but it could be any number of other crimes as well. At how many schools are these things "swept under the rug", "handled in-house", not reported to law enforcement, etc.? Baylor got massively caught, the offenses are particularly repellent, and there is a paper-trail a mile long to hang the powers-that-be there, but is what happened at Baylor really that much different than at other schools? Would rapist football players at Alabama, Mississippi State, Ohio State, etc. get treated much differently?

Total speculation on my part and I don't have a shred of evidence against any of those programs or anyone else, but it does make me wonder. We know that a serial child molester at Penn State was allowed to carry on his criminal activities for a long time due to a cover up and "in-house" handling. How many times have we read about players at any number of schools being disciplined for "unspecified violations of team rules". . . what the hell does that even mean? These programs shield this stuff behind a privacy wall. . . but is Baylor really as much an outlier as we all like to think they are?

Great Post.

You'd think/hope these victims would go directly to the police. The Universities are too conflicted, even conservative, family oriented 'Christian ' schools.

[Treadway21]

How very Big 12 of them to try to grab extra money out of this....

A better solution would be just to have SMU and Baylor switch places. Improve the conference academics and the conference media market and carve Waco out of the list of crappy places in the Big 12.

Makes you wonder if this exasperates the divisions in the Big 12 - even though the Big 12 is only temporarily withholding the money - it still must put a strain on Baylor's budget. Baylor has zero leverage, but there has to be lots of behind the scenes wheeling and dealing power plays.

Isn't this similar to how the SWC started imploding - giving Texas an excuse to screw us and make a play for the Big 8? Texas has to be the instigator.

[RyanSMU98]

Makes you wonder if this exasperates the divisions in the Big 12 - even though the Big 12 is only temporarily withholding the money - it still must put a strain on Baylor's budget. Baylor has zero leverage, but there has to be lots of behind the scenes wheeling and dealing power plays.

Isn't this similar to how the SWC started imploding - giving Texas an excuse to screw us and make a play for the Big 8? Texas has to be the instigator.

I've had similar thoughts; I don't know that Texas is necessarily the instigator in this case, but they sure as heck aren't going to provide Baylor any kind of support or cover. We know all too well what happens to the small private school that shows up the Whorens in football. Still don't think BU grasps just how deep the sewage around them really is.

[SMU89]

Isn't this just legal CYA