Baylor Eager To Begin Season

Everyone knows what Baylor did this summer.

The 2016 college football season couldn’t begin soon enough for the Bears, who have experienced a never-ending whirlwind offseason that led to a coaching change and decimated Baylor’s recently rebuilt reputation.

Now, the program is starting over in more ways than one.

Baylor’s board of regents sent shockwaves through college football when it dismissed head football coach Art Briles on May 26.

The school hired an independent law firm to investigate the school’s failure to comply with Title IX regulations and the growing rape culture on campus. The board determined that Briles was culpable for the problems within the football program and fired him along with athletics director Ian McCaw.

Conspicuously, none of the other Baylor assistant coaches were dismissed and they will join interim coach Jim Grobe as the Bears attempt to move out of the shadow of the controversy.

Grobe promptly waded into controversy himself at Big 12 media days when he stated

that, from the players he had spoken to since arriving at the school, he didn’t believe there was a problem at Baylor. Then, just before practice began, Bears offensive lineman Rammi Hammad was arrested for felony stalking and dropped off the Bears’ roster.

How Baylor performs on the football field this season seems inconsequential both to the reputation of the school and the Bears’ long-term success in football. Questions will certainly remain about who will be Baylor’s head coach after the 2016 campaign, whether there will be a mass exodus of assistant coaches and players and, most crucially, whether the school can rehabilitate the culture of its campus.

Nevertheless, Baylor will play football this fall and probably play it very well. Plenty of dynamic skill position players return, especially on offense where QB Seth Russell is among the top passers in the nation. He has plenty of good receiving targets too, led by junior KD Cannon. Baylor also proved late last season that it has the running backs to get the job done even when the passing game is wrecked with QB injuries.

Win or lose, though, the spotlight will be on Grobe as he leads Baylor away from the difficult offseason the Bears just experienced.

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