There is a thick layer of controversy covering Baylor University at the moment. It began with whispers of mishandled rape investigations that led to further review, and then damaging reports came out as more information came to light. Baylor allegedly took over two years to begin investigating into a rape allegation against two of their football players. Sam Ukwuachu was a football player who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a fellow student and soccer player. Recently drafted defensive end, Shawn Oakman was recently indicted on his sexual assault charge. The firing of Art Briles was a step in the right direction but it is clear that the problem runs deeper than the football program. It was revealed by the women's lawyers that the school's strict code of conduct was used as a tool to keep them silent, by threatening publicity of the rape or even punishment of other behaviors. In one instance, a student was told that the rape that occurred on an off-campus party could not be investigated, but that she would have to do 25 hours of community service for her consumption of alcohol that night. This demonstrates that the school is already allowing sexual assaults to occur using their out-dated code of conduct as a shield to hide behind when faced with making tough decisions like bringing football players from a successful program to justice.
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Moreover, they need to adopt a new culture and change their current one, fast. The football program has already greatly suffered due to the allegations as seven recruits asked to be relieved from their letters of commitment, some have transferred, like promising sophomore quarterback Jarrett Stidham, while other recruits have removed Baylor from consideration altogether. The program has also recently been rumored to have been less than forthcoming with information about their players, such as Robert Griffin III, Josh Gordon and Shawn Oakman, with regards to their past incidents, behaviors or shortcomings. This has led to a distrust with NFL general managers regarding Baylor, and the recent controversy does not help to ease the minds of league decision-makers. The question is why would a recruit want to go to a school where allegations are rampant, the school board and athletic program seem to have some sort of disconnect that is in turn causing the player's well-being to suffer and their image to the NFL will already be tarnished by association alone?
Well, the short answer is: he wouldn't.
If Baylor the school and Baylor the football program both want to succeed again sooner rather than later, a calculated culture change is essential to accelerating the process.
