Kick BU out of the Big 12

Big 12 should give Baylor the boot
By JOHN P. LOPEZ
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Baylor couldn't even cheat its way to mediocrity.

That by itself says something about the state of this athletic program and the depths to which the proud Bears have sunk.

It says something else loud and clear, too:

It's time for Baylor's Big 12 brethren to listen to their heads, not their hearts, and expunge the Bears from the Big 12 Conference.

Help the Bears help themselves, Big 12, because they've got too much pride and too much of your money to do it themselves.

Baylor couldn't even buy players right. It couldn't even doctor admissions records right.

That says something about the basketball program former Bears coach Dave Bliss ran. It was crooked and deceitful, sure, but it still couldn't manage an NCAA Tournament berth or even come close.

It says something about the accountability of former athletic director Tom Stanton, too.

Stanton, like Bliss, was considered a decent enough man away from the fields of play. But the pressure to compete against schools with which Baylor had no business sharing fields became too much.

Stanton kept his head stuck firmly in the sand while all around him drug tests were fixed, academically marginal athletes were admitted, and tuition and fees were paid for by unseemly characters.

Yet the Bears still couldn't win or draw a crowd.

There should be no place for Baylor athletics in the Big 12. None at all.

It is a tough truth to face, which is why when the university and athletics council pushed Bliss and Stanton out, it stopped short of what really could have fixed the problem and begun repairing the embarrassment.

Baylor's nobility in the wake of the scandal was only selectively pure. Dropping out of the Big 12 would have been the most significant step toward resurgence.

But alas, at Baylor they know a thing or two about collection plates. And the school was not about to let this one slip through its grip -- not when up to $5 million a year comes in and all the Bears have to do in return is pray nobody gets hurt.

That's why other Big 12 institutions should finish the job Baylor's administration stopped short of completing.

Expunging Baylor would take what Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg called a "supermajority." In other words, nine votes, which means at least one Texas team would have to swallow state pride and go Judas on the Bears.

But this is an athletic program in disarray. The Bears have proved to be little more than pot lickers, living off the scraps from the big table and showing no hope of contributing to the Big 12 cause.

Baylor ranked last in Big 12 football attendance last year, second-to-last in basketball. And that's after basketball attendance doubled under Bliss.

The other 11 football schools in the Big 12 drew an average of 57,743 fans last season. Their stadiums were, on average, 90 percent full.

The Bears averaged 28,018 attendees, less than half the average of the other Big 12 schools, and that's with many home crowds boosted by large contingents of visiting fans. Baylor's stadium, on average, was just 56 percent full.

Now, the turmoil, firings and self-imposed basketball probation likely will carry over into football recruiting, which means that even from these depths, Baylor athletics has no place to go but down.

That might hardly seem possible, considering a football program that is an unfathomable 4-52 in league play since the Big 12 was formed. But rest assured that even with a new AD and new basketball coach, Baylor's problems will only continue unless it gets the boot and moves on to a league where it can compete and recruit.

Those opposed to Baylor's expulsion like to cling to false hope and thin evidence about Baylor's importance to the league. But that's all it is. False and thin.

Some will say that with the competition so stiff week in and week out, every league power needs a pawn to club. A Vanderbilt. A Northwestern.

Really? Why, exactly?

If Baylor were replaced with, say, LSU or Arkansas, there still would be a last-place team every year in the Big 12 South. It just wouldn't be the same poor school every year.

And Big 12 TV contracts would be richer, national name recognition better, and average attendance larger. As it stands, the Big 12 is forced to put Baylor on TV at least a couple of times a year, which does nothing for ratings or future TV contract negotiations.

Those clinging to the Big 12 as it is also like to point out how the Bears are competitive and even championship-caliber in other sports. Fine. But how much money did last spring's tennis title bring the league?

They'll say Baylor's facilities are top-shelf and its fund raising on a par with most other Big 12 schools.

But despite it all, the Bears couldn't beg, borrow or steal their way to respectability or, more important, accountability.

That should say something to the rest of the league. Goodbye, Baylor.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2044908

Baylor never belonged in the Big 12 (thank you Ann Richards, have another drink please!). Time to fix the past.

 

I've read Arkansas feels left out of the SEC but probably not to the point of leaving. Had Virginia Tech not been invited to the ACC, I think the SEC would have been interested in the Hokies and the Big 12 could have pursued Arkansas. LSU is an original member of the SEC so I can't see them leaving.

If the NCAA allows conferences with less than 12 schools to have a championship game, the Big 12 would not need a replacement for Baylor.

 

One of the arguments for Baylor is the school raises the academic standards of the conference. I'm sorry Baylor is not in the same category as Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, or Stanford. Baylor is a good school, but not the best academics in the Big 12. I think CU, A&M, and UT are either on par or better.

 

Minor violations, yes. Major violations, no.

Lopez pointed out BU's tennis title. Congrats. Football and mens basketball pay the bills of the athletic department so excuse us for concentrating on them. btw, Kansas is nationally competitive in mens basketball. BU is not.