It appears that the first domino in Baylor’s sordid sexual assault scandal is about to tumble. Whether the biggest one, football-wise, is far behind remains to be seen.
According to a report from Chip Brown of HornDigest.com, Baylor’s Board of Regents are expected to part ways with president Ken Starr by the end of the month, if not sooner. The report of Starr’s impending ouster comes less than a week after another damning Outside the Lines report in which further allegations of sexual assault and/or violence committed by Bears football players were, essentially, swept under the rug.
In one new allegation from the most recent report, an alleged victim who was a BU student at the time claimed she was assaulted twice by her boyfriend, a BU football player. She claimed that even as Starr and head football coach Art Briles were aware of her claims, the unidentified player was never disciplined by either the football program or the university.
At least six women, and perhaps more, have claimed to have been sexually assaulted or physically abused by BU football players from 2009-16. In late March of this year, a woman filed a lawsuit against Baylor in which she claims she was raped by a Bear football player, Tevin Elliott, and that the university was “deliberately indifferent to complaints by student victims of rape.
In 2014, Elliott was convicted of sexually assaulting another different BU student at a party in 2012 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Another former Bear football player, Sam Ukwuachu, was convicted of sexually assaulting a BU student in October of 2013 following the Homecoming win over Iowa State and was sentenced to 10 years felony probation. In December of last year, the victim in that case reached a settlement with the university.
Given the spate of negative headlines, some have begun to wonder just how long Briles, 65-37 since taking over in 2008, can survive as the Bears’ coach. Based on Brown’s report, it appears that is indeed the case as the regents are seemingly prepared to make Starr the one and only public sacrificial lamb.The three dozen members of the Baylor regents board are preparing to blame Starr - not football coach Art Briles - for failed leadership during the ongoing scandal over how the school handled reports of rape and assault made against five BU football players
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The only thing that is clear, according to sources, is that Starr - not Briles - is going to be the fall guy for the school’s inaction
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Sources said Briles, who has revived a moribund football program by winning at least 10 games in four of the past five years, including two Big 12 titles and a Heisman Trophy (Robert Griffin III in 2011), will continue as football coach, barring any evidence turning up that Briles was engaged in a coverup.
Brown’s closing quote is the most damning when it comes to the current climate in Waco.
“The feeling is if the board got rid of Art (Briles), they’d be sitting in a $300 million mausoleum instead of that new football stadium.”
Yep, just win, baby. Just when you thought this story couldn’t get any more sickening...
UPDATED 12:06 p.m. ET: Brown has updated his report with information that BU regents fired Starr Tuesday.