Baylor University’s football program just doesn’t get it.
Two months have passed since university president Ken Starr and head football coach Art Briles were forced out after an independent investigation revealed systemic failures in addressing alleged sexual assault by players. The scandal should have swayed Baylor football to serious change, and to publicly show how the program planned to take campus sexual assault seriously. But it didn’t.
Jim Grobe, once named a National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press, has taken over as Baylor’s interim head coach and, on Tuesday, spoke about the scandal. Grobe stated Baylor was committed “to learn from” its “past mistakes.” More critically, however, he failed to admit the root of those so-called “mistakes,” that is, Baylor football’s culture of not holding players accountable for alleged violence against women.
When asked about changing the off-field culture of the program, Grobe said, “We don’t have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University,” adding that he thinks the university has dealt with the scandal well enough.
On the contrary, there is evidence in the form of a whole university-commissioned report by law firm Pepper Hamilton explicitly stating there is a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University. From the report:
[Baylor football coaches] reinforced an overall perception that football was above the rules, and that there was no culture of accountability for misconduct.
Despite the report’s limitations ― more on that below ― Baylor’s problem was made clear. From 2012 to 2015, players accused of sexual assault weren’t held accountable by a coaching staff, who seemed willing to do whatever it took to make the allegations go away.
Despite letting go of its president, its athletic director and its head football coach, Baylor University clearly didn’t do enough. With the exception of two football staffers fired along with Briles, Grobes inherits the same staff who enabled alleged abusers.
And the Pepper Hamilton report, which brought down Starr and Briles, was still insufficient. The 13-page document has been criticized for its lack of specificity and transparency, because Baylor decided against a more comprehensive reporting of an investigation that included over 65 interviews and one million pieces of information. In response, the Big 12 conference requested that Baylor hand over all documents from the investigation, but it’s unclear whether any of it will ever be made public.
Grobe’s comments are perhaps indicative of a larger problem surrounding campus sexual assault in the cultures of many, many football programs. Big 12 conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby foolishly stated on Monday that sexual assault is caused by alcohol, drugs, the “college experience,” and “raging hormones.” It’s hard to believe such men understand sexual assault despite tough talk on working on a solution.
However, we can see why Grobe was overwhelmingly positive ― if incorrect ― about the situation at Baylor. He was brought in to stabilize the program and give the team a boost after Briles’ sudden firing. Functioning as the public face of the university, as many big-time college football coaches do, Grobe wants to both support his players (many recruits were lost after the report came out) and the university that hired him while demonstrating to the public how seriously he takes the scandal.
But, in doing all of that, he’s revealed himself as a man who doesn’t fully understand what Pepper Hamilton deemed the school’s main problem to be: the culture of Baylor football. If Grobe thinks his team’s morale is more important than rooting out years of irresponsible, immoral behavior, then it’s unreasonable to expect meaningful and necessary change.
