Baylor faces possible sanctions

[valpo04]

The men's and women's basketball programs at Baylor University are facing possible NCAA sanctions following an investigation that uncovered more than 1,200 impermissible phone calls and text messages during a 29-month span.

Men's coach Scott Drew, women's coach Kim Mulkey and their assistants, were involved in the impermissible phone calls and texts. ESPN.com obtained a copy of the summary disposition, which was produced by the NCAA enforcement committee and Baylor.

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/7791434/baylor-bears-teams-facing-possible-ncaa-sanctions

[ValpoHoops]

Posting from my phone, so only a link...

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story?storyId=7791434

[hoopfan22]

I'm shocked!

[agibson]

The report concluded that Drew demonstrated a "failure to monitor" of the activities of two of his assistant coaches and that there also was an overall "failure to monitor" by the institution, 

[milanmiracle]

I'm shocked!

I'm not. 

[dylanrocks]

Improprieties at Baylor? Shocking, I tell you!

I always thought the school was a paragon of virtue.

[sectionee]

goodbye Baylor assistants...in other Drew news..I heard they left a $10 tip on a $200 Easter brunch last Sunday.  I figure this is due to Bryce taking the pay cut to stay at Valpo.

[StlVUFan]

While I am a bit surprised, I'm sad to say I'm not at all shocked.  I wish I were.

[wh]

EE - You're insulting post about Bryce is a real turnoff.  A bill for $200 for a brunch tells me that their party was probably 6 or larger, so the tip would have been automatically included in the bill.  The $10 you're talking about was probably left by someone at the table as an extra tip for especially good service.  Unless you have evidence to the contrary, I will assume that you made an honest mistake.

[setshot]

A 20% pretax tip should be about $35.00. A 5% tip would have been about $9.00. 

[StlVUFan]

Interesting take here: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/09/baylor-fans-should-be-ecstatic-about-the-timing-of-espns-report/

[bbtds]

Interesting take here: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/09/baylor-fans-should-be-ecstatic-about-the-timing-of-espns-report/

Now that is a very distorted opinion from one writer. He completely misses the fact that Homer was an asst at LSU and the reason Scott Drew took the job at Baylor after only one year of head coaching experience at Valpo.

[crusaderboy]

Interesting take here: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/09/baylor-fans-should-be-ecstatic-about-the-timing-of-espns-report/

Now that is a very distorted opinion from one writer. He completely misses the fact that Homer was an asst at LSU and the reason Scott Drew took the job at Baylor after only one year of head coaching experience at Valpo.

I am not here to defend Scott, but I don't find that to be a distorted opinion. In fact, I find it to be a very realistic attempt at connecting the dots.
The reporter who broke the story, Jason King, is very close to the Baylor program. Incidentally, he is also the writer who broke the news that Bryce interviewed at Mississippi State. Connect these dots: How would a Big 12 writer with ties to the Baylor program know that Bryce interviewed for an SEC job when that writer covers neither Valpo nor the SEC? And also ask yourself this: who would benefit from that information leaking out to the national media?

I also enjoyed the fact Baylor announced -- on the same day the violation story broke -- that Perry Jones III was leaving for the NBA, and Quincy Miller taking to Twitter to ask Baylor fans what he should do concerning his future. All this stuff is timed and orchestrated for a reason.

The violations story is basically a joke. A 29-month investigation yielded only impermissible phone calls? Oh my goodness! Baylor fans should be happy that is all the NCAA found. Scott Drew and Baylor get the sanctimonious treatment from the NCAA and people want to pile on because they are an easy target and do not have the cache of someone like the great Coach K or Roy Williams -- the sainted ones -- who both have also been involved in recruiting violations within the past calendar year.

[valpopal]

The violations story is basically a joke. A 29-month investigation yielded only impermissible phone calls? Oh my goodness! Baylor fans should be happy that is all the NCAA found. Scott Drew and Baylor get the sanctimonious treatment from the NCAA and people want to pile on because they are an easy target and do not have the cache of someone like the great Coach K or Roy Williams -- the sainted ones -- who both have also been involved in recruiting violations within the past calendar year.

As the article points out, these violations are not only minimal but are no longer violations since the rule has recently been changed. Also, the violations cover all of Baylor sports, not just men's basketball. This is the sole result of an investigation lasting more than two years! Still, this will get some traction, especially in Big 12 circles where Scott is not very well liked by coaches at the major programs who see him and his program as upstarts. 

[FWalum]

goodbye Baylor assistants...in other Drew news..I heard they left a $10 tip on a $200 Easter brunch last Sunday.  I figure this is due to Bryce taking the pay cut to stay at Valpo.

I hope this was a poor attempt at a joke sectionee... The only thing lied more about than recruiting phone calls is how much servers make in tips (just ask the IRS).

[valpo04]

Interesting take here: http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/09/baylor-fans-should-be-ecstatic-about-the-timing-of-espns-report/

Now that is a very distorted opinion from one writer. He completely misses the fact that Homer was an asst at LSU and the reason Scott Drew took the job at Baylor after only one year of head coaching experience at Valpo.

The violations story is basically a joke. A 29-month investigation yielded only impermissible phone calls? Oh my goodness! Baylor fans should be happy that is all the NCAA found. Scott Drew and Baylor get the sanctimonious treatment from the NCAA and people want to pile on because they are an easy target and do not have the cache of someone like the great Coach K or Roy Williams -- the sainted ones -- who both have also been involved in recruiting violations within the past calendar year.

Sorry... its not a joke.  Coach K offered a scholarship to a kid who was playing in a summer tournament, Roy Williams watched a workout for a kid but there was no proof he arranged it, which would have been a violation.  Hardly the same as committing a major violation - labeled as such because of the sheer number of calls and texts - and attempting to cover it up while still on probation for the Dennehy murder.

Drew, women's coach Kim Mulkey and their assistants reportedly combined to send 738 impermissible text messages and made 528 impermissible calls over a span of nearly two-and-a-half years, most of which were committed by the men's staff in 2007 and 2008.

According to the ESPN report, which cited an NCAA report it had obtained, all coaches involved have acknowledged their parts in the violations. Another major violation occurred when former men's assistant Mark Morefield attempted to have two AAU coaches provide the NCAA with inaccurate information about a series of text messages.

The NCAA also reportedly cited Drew with a "failure to monitor" his assistants and hit Baylor with the same charge overall. Drew also paid four men involved with recruiting services between $200 and $500 to cover his elite camp in 2007.

But worst of all for Drew, many of the NCAA rules broken occurred while the Bears were serving five years' probation handed down in 2005 for violations found in the aftermath of the murder of former men's basketball player Patrick Dennehy.

The NCAA doesn't care that Baylor's athletics department is currently enjoying its most success in university history. And rightfully so, because it has been far less lenient with programs that commit violations while already on probation, let alone one that was already in trouble for one of the worst scandals in the history of college athletics.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/baylor-bears-coach-scott-drew-reportedly-hit-with-ncaa-violations-040912

[crusaderboy]

It is a joke. Just because it is a rule doesn't mean it has that much validity. Consider the rule has since been changed. And while the numbers seem like a lot, the reality is it is spread over a period of 2 1/2 years, which is basically 900 days. Those numbers on a proper scale don't seem that bad to me in the world of big-time recruiting.
Also consider also that any program investigated over the span of time the Baylor program was investigated for would be found to have done something wrong. Any program.

Point is, those incidents with K and Williams were just within the past year. Their careers are peppered with such incidents. But over time they have built up the capacity to be insulated from most of these allegations. Scott has not. Lester Earl, Jaron Rush, Chris Duhon.

[StlVUFan]

crusaderboy is taking me back to my original contention, which still seems valid: Scott Drew is getting all this heat *not* because he's pushing the envelope, but because he's better at it than Rick Barnes (for example) is.  I've been smelling a *lot* of jealousy out of certain sectors of the Big 12 the past few years.

I will say that the one thing in all this that *did* shock me is the alleged message from Mark Morefield about deportation, and it seems like that particular aspect has been dealt with satisfactorily (if not swiftly).

[valpo04]

It is a joke. Just because it is a rule doesn't mean it has that much validity. Consider the rule has since been changed. And while the numbers seem like a lot, the reality is it is spread over a period of 2 1/2 years, which is basically 900 days.

1266 phone calls and text messages over 900 days... or more than a call/text a day.  That's a lot, no matter how you try to spin it.

Those numbers on a proper scale don't seem that bad to me in the world of big-time recruiting.
Also consider also that any program investigated over the span of time the Baylor program was investigated for would be found to have done something wrong. Any program.

Point is, those incidents with K and Williams were just within the past year. Their careers are peppered with such incidents. But over time they have built up the capacity to be insulated from most of these allegations. Scott has not. Lester Earl, Jaron Rush, Chris Duhon.

Point is, a rule is a rule, whether you find it stupid or not.  Baylor was on probation and Scott broke the rule while on probation.  Most organizations come down hard if there are further transgressions once they find out of a wrongdoing... ask the New Orleans Saints.

Also, generalizations and accusations that cannot be backed up don't strengthen your argument.  Saying every program has broken rules or done something wrong over the same timespan as Baylor is foolish.

[valpo04]

I also want to be clear that I'm not arguing that Drew should be fired or anything like that and I agree that its a silly rule, but its a rule nonetheless and he broke it.

I am simply arguing that he did indeed commit a major infraction while on probation, tried to cover it up and got caught and should face some sort of penalty.  I don't think anyone is out to get Drew simply because he is outwardly Christian and I don't think that the NCAA is playing favorites by punishing him and not others.

[chef]

I think if the NCAA spent 29 months investigated every program in the SEC and most of the other "majors", some violations would be discovered at almost every school. This is the reality of big-time athletics. There were various stories out there why Brad Stevens should stay at Butler (one written by David Kaplan), because he's not a cheater, and would have to bend the rules if he went to Illinois. Let's face it, if the NCAA wants to find some violations, they will.

[crusaderboy]

Also, generalizations and accusations that cannot be backed up don't strengthen your argument.  Saying every program has broken rules or done something wrong over the same timespan as Baylor is foolish.

I don't think it is foolish at all. On the contrary, I am trying to point out both the selective outcry when certain schools are found to have broken rules, or committed violations, and also the selective doggedness with which the NCAA goes after certain schools.

I know this will not sit well with many, but Tark -- himself no angel, but at least he wasn't a hypocrite and he called out the NCAA for its corruptness -- was fond of saying, "The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they just put Cleveland State on probation."

Scott already has faced some penalties self-imposed by the school. The question is whether the NCAA will add to them.

[valpopal]

1266 phone calls and text messages over 900 days... or more than a call/text a day.  That's a lot, no matter how you try to spin it.

When including text messages with phone calls, the numbers could be deceiving, as is often the case with statistics of any kind. Anyone who is involved with texting knows the back-and-forth messages could add up very quickly, and it wouldn't be unrealistic to see 20 or more messages sent in a single conversation. Also, we must remember that figure includes the Baylor women's program, not just the men's basketball program. In fact, it seems the women's program and the recruiting of Griner was the focus of attention in the original investigation. Moreover, most of the impermissable calls or messages by the men's program took place in 2007 and 2008.

[valpotx]

I have to agree that just about any major program out there can be found to have something wrong in regards to NCAA violations.  I knew many of my classmates in HS who were recruited by major programs in TX for a variety of sports can speak to this as well.  Those 'Longhorn Foundation,' 'Razorback Foundation,' etc type associations...back then they were definitely all women students, and were arranged by the players on various teams to do some not up to NCAA standards stuff to try and gain commitments....I know some got caught for this type of thing, was it Colorado a few years back?

[crusaderboy]

More or less my point:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/18425185/release-of-ncaa-violations-a-great-day-at-baylor-and-hes-not-kidding