One question for football Coach Art Briles and the administration of Baylor University:
How is it that the Florida Gators had enough common sense to steer clear of recently convicted rapist Sam Ukwuachu, but you didn't?
Instead, Baylor actually admitted Ukwuachu, a talented-but-troubled football player who apparently was depressed to the point of being suicidal and was kicked out of Boise State for some unknown disciplinary reason that may or may not have been that he allegedly physically abused his girlfriend.
Ukwuachu was convicted last Thursday of sexually assaulting an ex-Baylor soccer player in 2013, and Briles and Baylor are rightfully being questioned about why they recruited a player with so many red flags. Briles originally insisted he knew nothing about any of Ukwuachu's disciplinary issues at Boise State -- an explanation so far-fetched that one college coach I know actually laughed out loud when I broached the topic earlier this week.
According to a report by Sports Illustrated, two former Florida athletic officials confirmed that the Gators had considered taking Ukwuachu, but "decided against it after a Boise State athletic department employee detailed Ukwuachu's troubles with a girlfriend." During Ukwuachu's rape trial, that girlfriend at Boise State testified that he choked her, punched her repeatedly, physically restrained her from leaving and had a violent temper.
"There was no way," a former Florida employee told Sports Illustrated. "[Muschamp] wouldn't touch him."
But Briles brought him onto Baylor's campus, and he needs to be held accountable no matter how many games he has won and how great of an offensive mind he is. Sam Ukwuachu raped a fellow Baylor student after having such serious mental issues at Boise State that he considered suicide, was taking antipsychotic medication and had checked himself into a psychiatric and substance-abuse treatment facility.
Briles lost all credibility in this matter when his original statement was -- and I swear I'm not making this up -- that he only agreed to sign Ukwuachu after former Boise State coach Chris Petersen told him the player was transferring because he was depressed and homesick.
This just in, Coach Briles: Schools like Boise State don't dismiss star players for being depressed, and schools like Florida don't turn down star players because they're homesick.
Briles' explanation was so ridiculous that Petersen, now the coach at Washington, broke the honor-among-thieves coaching code and essentially called Briles a liar. Said Petersen in a statement: "I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam's disciplinary record and dismissal."
Now it seems everybody is channeling their inner Sgt. Schultz ("I know noth-ing!") -- probably because they're worried about getting sued or investigated by the federal government. Local attorney Rick Calzada told me on Wednesday that Baylor is ripe for a civil suit by the rape victim.
And, now, predictably, Boise State is saying it knew nothing about Ukwuachu committing alleged acts of violence against his girlfriend, and that this wasn't the reason he was dismissed from the team. However, the school is conducting a cover-your-butt Title IX internal investigation just in case.
Baylor says it knew nothing about Ukwuachu committing alleged acts of violence against his former girlfriend, but it laughably is conducting a cover-your-butt internal investigation into its original internal investigation. Baylor's original internal investigation into the sexual assault was so shoddy and shallow that the judge wouldn't allow it to be used by Ukwuachu's lawyers during the trial.
Now ask yourself this: How is it that Boise State (the school where he came from) didn't know and Baylor (the school where he ended up) didn't know, but Florida somehow did know?
Isn't the answer pretty simple?
If you didn't know, it's because you didn't want to know.
Sports on 08/28/2015