Although Penn State came close in 2012 once the Jerry Sandusky scandal was revealed, to this date SMU is the only football program to receive the death penalty from the NCAA. Considering that devastating hammer came down on a program who was paying players, it appears Baylor should be the next program to get the axe.
If what’s being reported is true, Baylor football has been a despicable culture full of more players who should be in pinstripes behind bars than in pads on the sidelines.
A new lawsuit from an alleged victim identified as “Elizabeth Doe” claims there were at least 52 rapes over a four year span within the Baylor football program, with 31 football players allegedly involved.
“Doe” reported being gang raped by former Baylor players Tre-Von Armstead and Shamycheal Chatman in April 2013 after a party. While the pair were named as suspects in the police report, they were never charged. So now Doe is suing Baylor for Title IX violations and negligence.
It’s all disturbing stuff if true.
The lawsuit describes a culture of sexual violence within Baylor’s athletics, in which the school implemented a “show ’em a good time” policy that “used sex to sell” the football program to recruits. A Dallas-area high school athlete, according to the suit, said former assistant coach Kendall Briles once asked him, “Do you like white women? Because we have a lot of them at Baylor and they love football players.”
Also mentioned:
- There were an alleged five gang rapes from 2011-2014 that involved 10 or more players at one time.
- Chatman was accused of a previous rape involving a student athletic trainer that the school decided to cover up by paying for her education in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement.
Head coach Art Briles was fired in 2015. There have been several administrators caught in heavy cross fire since. Briles still says he hasn’t seen any facts. Others are adamant the allegations aren’t true either.
But of course these are incredibly heavy allegations and it would seem to reason that a major law firm wouldn’t take this case on unless they felt they had a good case.
Watch the next several months very carefully. If a solid case is made and an investigation leads to proof that Baylor football not only was enabling a rape culture, but was also negligent, we’re looking at possibly the second death penalty in NCAA history and one that will be much longer than the one-year sentence at SMU in 1987.
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.
Photo: Getty
