How NCAA Baylor's allegations could lead to sanctions (and for whom)

The NCAA sent Baylor an allegation that the school had violated the NCAA rules following the rape scandal that led to the dismissal of football coach Art Briles, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. We do not have a copy of the documents that the NCAA sent to the school yet, but the newspaper says they include two well-known charges:

• Baylor's football program showed a "lack of institutional control"
• Briles has violated the law on the responsibility of the head coach by not promoting an "atmosphere of compliance" with the NCAA regulations

The school fired Briles in May 2016, more than 28 months before this report. The football team is in its second head coach since Briles; Jim Grobe served as an intermediary for a full year in 2016 and the school hired Matt Rhule, Temple Coach, prior to 2017.

NCAA surveys vary considerably by schedule, sometimes over five years or more. It was felt that the Baylor case had just erased.

The charges against Baylor by the NCAA are as serious as those of the organization. They have often been precursors of punishments before.

The NCAA calls for a lack of institutional control "the worst of the NCAA violations". The organization accuses the programs, not the individuals, of this violation. This means that the NCAA thinks that a school has repeatedly ignored or hidden the non-compliance instead of reporting it. This is one of the NCAA Level I offenses with the highest penalties.

A violation of the responsibility of the head coach is similar, but it concerns only one person. The NCAA rules define the duties of the head coach:

The head coach of an institution is presumed to be responsible for the actions of all staff members of the institution who report to them, directly or indirectly. The head coach of an institution must promote an atmosphere of compliance within their program and monitor the activities of all staff members of the institution involved in the program who relate directly or indirectly to the coach.

After his dismissal, Briles presented vague excuses, but never for what purpose. He claimed that he had never "done anything illegal, immoral or ethical".

Briles' players were repeatedly charged with domestic violence while leading the team. A lawsuit reportedly involved 52 rapes committed by football players in four years – all between 2011 and 2014, when Briles was the head coach of the Bears. In one case, Briles was charged with knowing of an allegation of gang rape committed against several of his players and of failing to report her to Title IX of the University or the Office of the Prosecutor. court cases.

The NCAA is not the best equipped to punish Baylor herself, for three reasons:

• The NCAA does not control Baylor's money. The school draws most of its outdoor sports money from the Big 12 television deal. The Big 12 is also the relay of bowl revenues for the entire conference. (The same goes for NCAA basketball tournament money, which goes from the NCAA to leagues to schools.) The NCAA could fine Baylor, but this approach has earned him legal trouble with Penn State and was then redirected.

(The Big 12 announced in 2017 that it would block 25% of Baylor's conference income distributions – at least several million dollars a year – until the school makes changes. The status is not clear, but the Big 12 made it appear earlier in the year – the year the school was about to get paid again. )

• The main characters of the scandal disappeared, until the NCAA discovers that more people were involved and that these people are still in Baylor. Briles is out of college football. Sports Director Ian McCaw is in Liberty. President Ken Starr is out of the administration of education. All the football staff went back under Rhule. A ban on playing bowl would punish Baylor's current players who did nothing wrong. Scholarship reductions would mean that fewer current high school students – aged 11 when Briles arrived in Baylor – paid for their tuition.
• And more broadly: Baylor's story is focused on the real crimes and those who committed them. The NCAA has tried to put in place its own version of the summoning power and basically be real police officers, but the investigative survey's trends should not make you optimistic that the NCAA will impose justice in the right way, to the right people.

Most importantly, the NCAA could cause significant harm to those present at Baylor during the course of the scandal.

Briles still seems very far from having another university job. A CFL team that attempted to hire it in 2017 has been withdrawn as a result of public pressure. He was regularly rumored and attending the Browns training camp in 2016. Earlier this year, he had a contract to coach a team in Italy.

The NCAA punishing Briles may not change his future career, but by imposing a proof penalty (in which a school should explain why he should be allowed to hire Briles), he could make his return impossible, rather than simply . unlikely, at least for a moment.

The NCAA could also choose to punish Liberty's sports director, McCaw, and the number of Baylor employees who have worked for Briles. Hitting an AD with a cause is rare, but has already occurred in other schools.

More will be clear when Baylor and the NCAA make their exchange public.

Baylor received the notice of allegation at some point in September, the Star-Telegram reported. The university has a period of 90 days from the receipt of the NDA to file its response.