Several members of the Baylor University athletic department, including fired football coach Art Briles, were dismissive of sexual assault accusations and attempted to keep such cases -- and other criminal conduct -- quiet, according to a court filing by the university Thursday.
The filing, a response to a defamation lawsuit by Colin Shillinglaw, a former Baylor football official, included the clearest details yet released by the university from a largely secretive investigation that led to the firing of Briles and the demotion and eventual departure of university president Kenneth W. Starr.
"The football program was a black hole into which reports of misconduct such as drug use, physical assault, domestic violence, brandishing of guns, indecent exposure and academic fraud disappeared," the court filing said.
The response, filed in Dallas County Court and provided to The New York Times, disclosed for the first time several blunt details, including text messages Briles sent that appeared to encourage cover-ups.
For instance, in 2013, when an unidentified player was arrested on suspicion of assaulting and threatening to kill someone, according to the filing, Briles texted Ian McCaw, the former athletic director, that the Waco Police Department was "going to keep it quiet" and that he would ask Shillinglaw to check with a lawyer. According to the filing, McCaw replied: "That would be great if they kept it quiet!"
Earlier this week, in his complaint, Shillingslaw accused the university's Board of Regents of slander and libel in communications with investigators and the news media. The filing also came one day after Briles had dropped his libel suit against the university.
Ernest Cannon, a lawyer who represented Briles in that case, called for transparency from the regents as well.
"Now let's see their emails and text messages," he said, adding, in reference to the law firm that conducted the investigation for the regents last year, "Let's see the Pepper Hamilton report."
A Waco Police Department spokesman could not be reached for comment. McCaw could not be reached through Liberty University, where he is now athletic director.
In another episode mentioned in the filing, a Baylor athlete told her coach that she had been raped by five football players. The athlete's coach informed McCaw, who told Briles, according to the filing: "These are some bad dudes. Why was she around those guys?"
Last week, a lawyer, John Clune, filed a lawsuit on behalf of one woman that claimed, based on his own investigation, that over four years there had been at least 52 rapes by at least 31 players. In October, several regents told The Wall Street Journal that at least 19 rapes had been committed by at least 17 players.
Sports on 02/04/2017