Harty: Why the scandal at Baylor seems foreign to me
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The desire to win is something we all have.
It burns deep inside us whether it sports or some other challenge.
It influences our behavior and our decision making.
And it turns some of us into people of low character whose view of right and wrong becomes distorted or clouded by the pursuit of excellence and riches.
That is the only way I can explain, or at least, try to rationalize what is alleged to have occurred within the Baylor football program.
Baylor University is making sweeping changes to its athletic and academic leadership in the wake of a sexual assault scandal involving numerous football players.
The school announced Thursday it has suspended coach Art Briles with intent to terminate him after eight seasons.
Athletic director Ian McCaw also has been sanctioned and placed on probation, while school president Ken Starr has been removed as president and will transition into a new role as chancellor.
These changes came in response to an investigation by an outside law firm that found the school "failed to take appropriate action to respond to reports of sexual assault and dating violence reportedly committed by football players. The choices made by football staff and athletics leadership, in some instances, posed a risk to campus safety and the integrity of the University."
Shortly after the news broke, I tweeted that the horrible allegations were almost incomprehensible after having covered Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz for the past 17 years.
It was my way of saying that Ferentz has too much integrity to allow his program to sink to the level of Baylor, where common decency seems in short supply in a win-at-all-cost environment.
I was warned by somebody on Twitter that my way of thinking was dangerous because what is alleged to have occurred at Baylor could happen anywhere, including under Ferentz’s watch at Iowa.
There is some truth to the warning because no school or football program is above or immune from corruption and scandal.
But on the other hand, you can’t paint every football program or every head coach with a broad brush.
I’m willing to say with great confidence that the kind of behavior that is alleged to have occurred at Baylor, or anything close to it, never would happen under Ferentz’s watch at Iowa.
The few times Ferentz has dealt with assault cases involving his players, his response has been quick and decisive after a thorough investigation.
Crime and corruption are fueled by circumstance. But it’s people who create the circumstances with the choices they make.
People will say that if it can happen at Penn State, it could happen anywhere in reference to the child rape scandal involving former Nittany Lion assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is now in jail where he belongs.
Penn State was a unique situation that we’ll probably, and hopefully, never see again where one man, the late Joe Paterno, was in power for over 50 years. Paterno had so much power and influence that he was above being judged or questioned until it was too late.
As for Briles, he has done a masterful job of turning Baylor into an elite program after years of struggle and hardship. But at what cost?
The allegations, which include administrators actively discouraging some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes, and in one case constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault, are frightening and disturbing.
And we’re talking about a school that is only 13 years removed from one of the worst scandals in the history of college sports in which a Baylor men’s basketball player killed a teammate.
Baylor has seen corruption at its worst, two scandals in which the top priority was winning at all cost.
Maybe I’m naïve to think that Ferentz is above such despicable behavior.
His teams haven’t always performed at an acceptable level. But Ferentz has when it comes to being a leader of young men.
That’s where Briles seems to have failed at Baylor.
He didn’t commit any of the alleged assaults, but he allowed a culture to fester in which that behavior was tolerated.
Under no circumstance could I ever see Ferentz making the same poor choices just for the sake of winning.
And if that’s being naive, then so be it.