eagle eye
05-31-2016, 09:25 AM
We are all aware of the firing of Art Briles as head football coach of Baylor last week. It's a sad tale of a program that was out of control. As is usually the case, a few bad apples make the whole pie stink and I'm pretty sure this was true in this case. Art Briles is known as a guy who likes to give people a second chance and this very noble because as an 18 year old your judgment may not be the best in the world but you also need a standard, a line if you will, players cannot cross or they are gone. Second chances carry with them limits. If I had a daughter at Baylor there is a good chance she wouldn't be going there long considering what the players on the football team did assaulting women on campus. This isn't just an Art Briles problem because the AD and higher ups had to know what was happening on their campus and they did little or nothing about it. There is no doubt Briles is a really good football coach. He has won at every level he's coached but for him to have an elite football program, to compete with the big boys in the Power 5 conferences he had to take chances on players of questionable character. Now you may have a shady background but if the proper structure is in place you can overcome that but if you're allowed to go about the things that looked shady and, if fact, you knew coaches looked the other way while you did that stuff then it's hard not be shady, or worse, within that system. I think somebody will hire Briles again but it may take a year or two for the dust to settle on this but whoever does hire him will have to make sure he runs his program better than he did at Baylor. The proof of Briles coaching ability is there for all to see with a perennially nationally ranked team and a lot of his players going to the NFL, not to mention coaching a Heisman Trophy winner. The flip side of the coin is he didn't have control of the team when they were gone from the practice field or the weight room. There certainly were no consequences for players who did the things that got Briles fired.
The AD of the Baylor Bears, Ian McCaw resigned shortly after Baylor named Jim Grobe the interim head coach. In a statement McCaw said that he felt the Baylor athletics program needed a fresh start so the school could go about the business of healing after the serious scandals that have occurred recently. In other words the school gave him the option of being fired or resigning. McCaw fell on his sword for the good of the school and, let's face it, for the good of his reputation.
Baylor is no stranger to program crippling scandal. In 2003 a Baylor basketball player shot and killed a teammate. The effect of the murder on the Baylor basketball program was rocked in the wake of the murder when it was found that the Bears head coach Dave Bliss was guilty of numerous recruiting violations, making payments to players and allegations of drug use were rampant. Bliss had also been involved in scandals at SMU when all the programs received the football program was given the death penalty by the NCAA for recruiting violations, Bliss and basketball program was in the thick of that as well. Apparently the people responsible for hiring coaches at Baylor have very low standards. Or, it goes to show you that if the money is right people will look the other way, at least until they are caught.
It's being reported that Jim Grobe won't have the interim label long. Grobe is a highly respected coach with an impeccable character. He is the former head coach of Wake Forest from 2001 to 2013 and he was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2006. The problem is he had an overall record of 77-83 which is not what you want to see and he resigned from Wake Forest in 2013 after posting 5 consecutive losing seasons.
Since Briles has been fired there have been several players who had committed to the Baylor program de-commit. This is huge blow to the university and the loss of the reputation of the school along with the lost revenue because nobody knows what Baylor is going to be in the future is a real kick in the gut for the folks in Waco.
The AD of the Baylor Bears, Ian McCaw resigned shortly after Baylor named Jim Grobe the interim head coach. In a statement McCaw said that he felt the Baylor athletics program needed a fresh start so the school could go about the business of healing after the serious scandals that have occurred recently. In other words the school gave him the option of being fired or resigning. McCaw fell on his sword for the good of the school and, let's face it, for the good of his reputation.
Baylor is no stranger to program crippling scandal. In 2003 a Baylor basketball player shot and killed a teammate. The effect of the murder on the Baylor basketball program was rocked in the wake of the murder when it was found that the Bears head coach Dave Bliss was guilty of numerous recruiting violations, making payments to players and allegations of drug use were rampant. Bliss had also been involved in scandals at SMU when all the programs received the football program was given the death penalty by the NCAA for recruiting violations, Bliss and basketball program was in the thick of that as well. Apparently the people responsible for hiring coaches at Baylor have very low standards. Or, it goes to show you that if the money is right people will look the other way, at least until they are caught.
It's being reported that Jim Grobe won't have the interim label long. Grobe is a highly respected coach with an impeccable character. He is the former head coach of Wake Forest from 2001 to 2013 and he was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2006. The problem is he had an overall record of 77-83 which is not what you want to see and he resigned from Wake Forest in 2013 after posting 5 consecutive losing seasons.
Since Briles has been fired there have been several players who had committed to the Baylor program de-commit. This is huge blow to the university and the loss of the reputation of the school along with the lost revenue because nobody knows what Baylor is going to be in the future is a real kick in the gut for the folks in Waco.