There was a reported pirated video of BUHSFootballFan busting moves in the stands Saturday night at Mansfield’s Vernon Newsom Stadium for the Euless Trinity-De La Salle (CA) game. I haven’t seen it. But the random juke box wants an encore performance. We have the selection in Salt N Pepa
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Just a couple more thoughts about the Sam Ukwuachu fallout and then we’ll keep moving forward. As I mentioned last week, this story isn’t going away in terms of other layers being uncovered.
Having said that, I don’t think it’s a distraction for this football program. Let’s be honest it was when it broke because you had players using social media to express support for each other, the coaching staff and so forth.
Had this happened late last week or this week, then I believe it could have been. But the WOW of the news cycle has come and gone. Baylor is getting ready to play the 2015 opener Friday at SMU. And it’s a return to as much normalcy as you can expect.
On David Smoak’s show this past Friday, I cited a thought from ESPN’s Rod Gilmore who made some pretty strong points. Gilmore said Briles and his staff probably could have done more. However, he also said it’s not Briles job to do all of the vetting on matters like this. Gilmore is right. Briles is asked to wear many hats. The documentation released on Aug. 20 as well as the Idaho Statesman’s release last week validate that.
There are people who are in a position to do this. But that returns us to the original point of where the process breaking down within the university.
Finally, when President and Chancellor Ken Starr announced that this inquiry was going to go to a third party, he saved himself and the university a lot of grief. Fair or not, had this investigation been kept internal, there would have been criticism over its validity, thoroughness and accuracy.
I don’t know how well it sits with athletic director Ian McCaw over the creation of a position in the athletic department that will oversee student-athlete behavior. As I mentioned the other day, we don’t know how this position will be structured, when it will be filled, how it will work with the university, local law enforcement, state law enforcement and national law enforcement.
Baylor’s principles cannot be argued. It’s foundation as a university and the example it sends are like no other. That’s why when episodes like this occur, it wants to ensure it will do what is right to protect those principles.
However, there’s a part of me that wonders if this is really necessary. It carries such a bureaucratic feel to it. Yes, this was a terrible black eye that hit Baylor involving a football player who was convicted of second degree sexual assault. But the mechanisms are already on the campus to deal with this.
What happened is that the process broke down and failed with the Ukwuachu case. What the investigation should reveal is why those mistakes were made and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Now, if the argument is going to be made that this position is going ease the burden for the coaches when it comes to these types of matters, I’m wondering how exactly that’s going to work. What has to be revealed – and soon – is if this position will be delivering discipline independently or if it will be working closely with the program that is in the middle of the student-athlete disciplinary issue. I’m sure it’s going to be the latter but I’m looking forward to the internal debate that will arise when this person decides a student-athlete needs to be punished with X when the head coach wants it to be Y.
Any athletics program is successful because everybody wants the same things for the programs and will work in concert to attain that. Athletics are the front porch to a university. This is just something we’re all going to have to watch and see how it unfolds.
****
So let’s get back to football. We need that badly.
I’ll share my answers that I gave to our SMU colleagues when it’s posted over there. I think it’s Wednesday. But I was asked if I thought this Ukwuachu episode was going to motivate Baylor.
I said maybe. Realistically, there is already enough motivation for this program. When you’re ranked No. 4 in the country in both polls, have a legitimate chance to claim a third consecutive Big 12 championship and compete for a national championship that should be enough.
By far, this is the most talented team Baylor has ever fielded in school history. Now, people are going to question parts of the defense. I will counter that by saying it’s becoming harder and harder to play defense at the high school and collegiate levels because the offenses have everybody spread out, gaps are naturally created. Heck, even as good as TCU’s defense was in 2014, it gave up 61 points to Baylor, 33 to Oklahoma, 30 to West Virginia and 30 to Kansas.
Could Baylor stand to play a little more zone coverage in the secondary rather than man? Yes. Will it? That’s not Phil Bennett’s style.
So you’re just going to have to live with some deep balls getting completed and live to fight on the next down.
****
These are the things I want to see with the 2015 season:
>I want to see Shock Linwood be given the chance to break Walter Abercrombie’s all-time school rushing record. Linwood needs 1,533 yards to do it. And he can do it this year if he’s healthy. There are other options in the running game, but it would be an intriguing subplot to track.
>I want to see Seth Russell have total command of the huddle and be consistent on the intermediate ball. What the first three games against SMU, Lamar and Rice should tell us is how that ball is working. It won’t impact the outcome because Baylor just has more Jimmys and Joes than those other three do. But that ball just needs to be thrown on a dime. This is Russell’s exhibition season to get that right before Big 12 play begins.
>I want to see Davion Hall emerge as a real option for this offense. It sounds like he’s healthy and had a solid fall camp. There’s no doubt that his athleticism was worth the fight for Baylor.
>I want to see Blake Lynch play. I don’t know what other pundits think. But there’s a part of me that believes he can offer something immediately regardless of what the current depth chart says.
>I want to see Travon Blanchard take the NB position and create such a dynamic that it becomes the glue to the Baylor defense. He’s going to be asked to play in pass coverage, run support, blitz and fly all over the field. At 6-2, 205 with speed, there’s a lot to like with him. Once he adds the FB IQ part, then it could be really special.
>I want to see Shawn Oakman play at a level that goes beyond the numbers. We all are aware that were times he kind of checked out last year. But this is it for him. He has no other choice but to be consistent. It’s going to help Baylor. It’s going to help his draft stock.
>I want to see OC Kendal Briles evolve to the point that the way you see him call the offense in November, will look far different than what it looks like in September. He’s just coming into his own. And the most pressure he will face to handle from all of these moving parts will be from himself. Just give it some time for him to get into a rhythm with this. To be honest, September is an exhibition for him because he needs to see players’ strengths and weaknesses.
>I want to see that there is depth in the offensive line you can trust. There are no concerns with the starting five. But the two deep sheds light on exactly what the coaching staff thinks of that unit. Look, somebody is probably going to get hurt in that unit. It happened with Spence Drango in 2014. It happened with Desmine Hilliard last year.
>I want to see Baylor eliminate the Stillwater, OK curse. Going up to Oklahoma State on Nov. 21 is going to be a challenge in itself. Who knows what the weather is going to be like. But Baylor hasn’t won up there since 1939. That has to change.
>I want to see the Baylor-TCU rivalry be talked about as one of the most intense in college football. It’s close. But it’s not on the stage with Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State, USC-Notre Dame to name a few. The game has provided exceptional drama over the past couple of years. If these teams meet the day after Thanksgiving ranked in the top five, it only adds to it.
>I want to see the narrative quashed that the Big 12 is not a great conference because its flagship programs in Texas and Oklahoma are struggling. There is always room for more schools to enhance the league’s national reputation. Private schools should not be automatically viewed as a detriment. If that’s so, why does USC get a pass? Why? Because they have been doing it longer. It didn’t hurt the PAC 12 when Oregon and Stanford became powers. It didn’t hurt the Big 10 when Wisconsin joined Ohio State and Michigan.
****
Some other thoughts:
>A great arena season for former Baylor DL Nick Jean-Baptiste. He played for the Jacksonville Sharks and helped his team reach Arena Bowl XXVIII. But it didn’t have a storybook ending. Jacksonville fell to San Jose, 67-48.
>Since his recall in late July, former Bear Max Muncy is not see much playing time with Oakland. His pinch hit single on Friday was his first appearance since Aug. 1. That’s a little odd considering the A’s have been out of the race for quite some time. Muncy is hitting just .217 but he does have two home runs.
>Well, we have a race in the AL West. And it’s in Texas between the Astros and Rangers. The Rangers have certainly turned things around at home. They have won 16 of their last 20 to even their home record at 32-32. Great starting pitching over the weekend to send Baltimore on its way. Cole Hamels was dominant Friday. Martin Perez was solid Saturday. Derek Holland probably threw the best game of his career Sunday with a three-hit shutout and 11 strikeouts. Rangers now on the road for 10 in San Diego, Seattle and Anaheim. They could really create some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack for at least the second wild card.
>I was delighted but also crestfallen when the news broke that Vin Scully would be returning for his 67th season of calling the Los Angeles Dodgers. Delighted because he was coming back. Crestfallen because he said 2016 was going to be his last season. Well, he’s only 87. I’m so thankful I had the chance to meet him and visit with him in 1997 when interleague play started and the Dodgers came to Arlington.
****
Some other Baylor notes
>Cross country: The Bear Twilight is set for 7:00 pm Tuesday in Waco. This is the first meet of the year.
>Not a good start for the girls soccer program. It’s off to an 0-4 start with losses to South Florida, Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana. They play on the road at Sam Houston State on Friday.
>A decent start for the volleyball team under new coach Ryan McGuyre. It went 2-1 in the Colorado State tournament. The Lady Bears were swept by Colorado State in the opener but came back to win in five sets in the final two matches against Northern Iowa and UC-Davis.
Let’s make it a great week!
******
Just a couple more thoughts about the Sam Ukwuachu fallout and then we’ll keep moving forward. As I mentioned last week, this story isn’t going away in terms of other layers being uncovered.
Having said that, I don’t think it’s a distraction for this football program. Let’s be honest it was when it broke because you had players using social media to express support for each other, the coaching staff and so forth.
Had this happened late last week or this week, then I believe it could have been. But the WOW of the news cycle has come and gone. Baylor is getting ready to play the 2015 opener Friday at SMU. And it’s a return to as much normalcy as you can expect.
On David Smoak’s show this past Friday, I cited a thought from ESPN’s Rod Gilmore who made some pretty strong points. Gilmore said Briles and his staff probably could have done more. However, he also said it’s not Briles job to do all of the vetting on matters like this. Gilmore is right. Briles is asked to wear many hats. The documentation released on Aug. 20 as well as the Idaho Statesman’s release last week validate that.
There are people who are in a position to do this. But that returns us to the original point of where the process breaking down within the university.
Finally, when President and Chancellor Ken Starr announced that this inquiry was going to go to a third party, he saved himself and the university a lot of grief. Fair or not, had this investigation been kept internal, there would have been criticism over its validity, thoroughness and accuracy.
I don’t know how well it sits with athletic director Ian McCaw over the creation of a position in the athletic department that will oversee student-athlete behavior. As I mentioned the other day, we don’t know how this position will be structured, when it will be filled, how it will work with the university, local law enforcement, state law enforcement and national law enforcement.
Baylor’s principles cannot be argued. It’s foundation as a university and the example it sends are like no other. That’s why when episodes like this occur, it wants to ensure it will do what is right to protect those principles.
However, there’s a part of me that wonders if this is really necessary. It carries such a bureaucratic feel to it. Yes, this was a terrible black eye that hit Baylor involving a football player who was convicted of second degree sexual assault. But the mechanisms are already on the campus to deal with this.
What happened is that the process broke down and failed with the Ukwuachu case. What the investigation should reveal is why those mistakes were made and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Now, if the argument is going to be made that this position is going ease the burden for the coaches when it comes to these types of matters, I’m wondering how exactly that’s going to work. What has to be revealed – and soon – is if this position will be delivering discipline independently or if it will be working closely with the program that is in the middle of the student-athlete disciplinary issue. I’m sure it’s going to be the latter but I’m looking forward to the internal debate that will arise when this person decides a student-athlete needs to be punished with X when the head coach wants it to be Y.
Any athletics program is successful because everybody wants the same things for the programs and will work in concert to attain that. Athletics are the front porch to a university. This is just something we’re all going to have to watch and see how it unfolds.
****
So let’s get back to football. We need that badly.
I’ll share my answers that I gave to our SMU colleagues when it’s posted over there. I think it’s Wednesday. But I was asked if I thought this Ukwuachu episode was going to motivate Baylor.
I said maybe. Realistically, there is already enough motivation for this program. When you’re ranked No. 4 in the country in both polls, have a legitimate chance to claim a third consecutive Big 12 championship and compete for a national championship that should be enough.
By far, this is the most talented team Baylor has ever fielded in school history. Now, people are going to question parts of the defense. I will counter that by saying it’s becoming harder and harder to play defense at the high school and collegiate levels because the offenses have everybody spread out, gaps are naturally created. Heck, even as good as TCU’s defense was in 2014, it gave up 61 points to Baylor, 33 to Oklahoma, 30 to West Virginia and 30 to Kansas.
Could Baylor stand to play a little more zone coverage in the secondary rather than man? Yes. Will it? That’s not Phil Bennett’s style.
So you’re just going to have to live with some deep balls getting completed and live to fight on the next down.
****
These are the things I want to see with the 2015 season:
>I want to see Shock Linwood be given the chance to break Walter Abercrombie’s all-time school rushing record. Linwood needs 1,533 yards to do it. And he can do it this year if he’s healthy. There are other options in the running game, but it would be an intriguing subplot to track.
>I want to see Seth Russell have total command of the huddle and be consistent on the intermediate ball. What the first three games against SMU, Lamar and Rice should tell us is how that ball is working. It won’t impact the outcome because Baylor just has more Jimmys and Joes than those other three do. But that ball just needs to be thrown on a dime. This is Russell’s exhibition season to get that right before Big 12 play begins.
>I want to see Davion Hall emerge as a real option for this offense. It sounds like he’s healthy and had a solid fall camp. There’s no doubt that his athleticism was worth the fight for Baylor.
>I want to see Blake Lynch play. I don’t know what other pundits think. But there’s a part of me that believes he can offer something immediately regardless of what the current depth chart says.
>I want to see Travon Blanchard take the NB position and create such a dynamic that it becomes the glue to the Baylor defense. He’s going to be asked to play in pass coverage, run support, blitz and fly all over the field. At 6-2, 205 with speed, there’s a lot to like with him. Once he adds the FB IQ part, then it could be really special.
>I want to see Shawn Oakman play at a level that goes beyond the numbers. We all are aware that were times he kind of checked out last year. But this is it for him. He has no other choice but to be consistent. It’s going to help Baylor. It’s going to help his draft stock.
>I want to see OC Kendal Briles evolve to the point that the way you see him call the offense in November, will look far different than what it looks like in September. He’s just coming into his own. And the most pressure he will face to handle from all of these moving parts will be from himself. Just give it some time for him to get into a rhythm with this. To be honest, September is an exhibition for him because he needs to see players’ strengths and weaknesses.
>I want to see that there is depth in the offensive line you can trust. There are no concerns with the starting five. But the two deep sheds light on exactly what the coaching staff thinks of that unit. Look, somebody is probably going to get hurt in that unit. It happened with Spence Drango in 2014. It happened with Desmine Hilliard last year.
>I want to see Baylor eliminate the Stillwater, OK curse. Going up to Oklahoma State on Nov. 21 is going to be a challenge in itself. Who knows what the weather is going to be like. But Baylor hasn’t won up there since 1939. That has to change.
>I want to see the Baylor-TCU rivalry be talked about as one of the most intense in college football. It’s close. But it’s not on the stage with Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State, USC-Notre Dame to name a few. The game has provided exceptional drama over the past couple of years. If these teams meet the day after Thanksgiving ranked in the top five, it only adds to it.
>I want to see the narrative quashed that the Big 12 is not a great conference because its flagship programs in Texas and Oklahoma are struggling. There is always room for more schools to enhance the league’s national reputation. Private schools should not be automatically viewed as a detriment. If that’s so, why does USC get a pass? Why? Because they have been doing it longer. It didn’t hurt the PAC 12 when Oregon and Stanford became powers. It didn’t hurt the Big 10 when Wisconsin joined Ohio State and Michigan.
****
Some other thoughts:
>A great arena season for former Baylor DL Nick Jean-Baptiste. He played for the Jacksonville Sharks and helped his team reach Arena Bowl XXVIII. But it didn’t have a storybook ending. Jacksonville fell to San Jose, 67-48.
>Since his recall in late July, former Bear Max Muncy is not see much playing time with Oakland. His pinch hit single on Friday was his first appearance since Aug. 1. That’s a little odd considering the A’s have been out of the race for quite some time. Muncy is hitting just .217 but he does have two home runs.
>Well, we have a race in the AL West. And it’s in Texas between the Astros and Rangers. The Rangers have certainly turned things around at home. They have won 16 of their last 20 to even their home record at 32-32. Great starting pitching over the weekend to send Baltimore on its way. Cole Hamels was dominant Friday. Martin Perez was solid Saturday. Derek Holland probably threw the best game of his career Sunday with a three-hit shutout and 11 strikeouts. Rangers now on the road for 10 in San Diego, Seattle and Anaheim. They could really create some distance between themselves and the rest of the pack for at least the second wild card.
>I was delighted but also crestfallen when the news broke that Vin Scully would be returning for his 67th season of calling the Los Angeles Dodgers. Delighted because he was coming back. Crestfallen because he said 2016 was going to be his last season. Well, he’s only 87. I’m so thankful I had the chance to meet him and visit with him in 1997 when interleague play started and the Dodgers came to Arlington.
****
Some other Baylor notes
>Cross country: The Bear Twilight is set for 7:00 pm Tuesday in Waco. This is the first meet of the year.
>Not a good start for the girls soccer program. It’s off to an 0-4 start with losses to South Florida, Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana. They play on the road at Sam Houston State on Friday.
>A decent start for the volleyball team under new coach Ryan McGuyre. It went 2-1 in the Colorado State tournament. The Lady Bears were swept by Colorado State in the opener but came back to win in five sets in the final two matches against Northern Iowa and UC-Davis.
Let’s make it a great week!
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