I’m not going to sit here and pretend to know what recently went down in a Big 12 Board of Directors meeting that decided to strip Baylor of 25 percent of its future league revenue.
But before you get in a hissy about it “not being enough of a punishment,” my guess is that there is more to come.
Reason being, remember back when the NCAA got involved with the Penn State/Jerry Sandusky scandal? One of the problems back then (and there were many) was that the NCAA does not have subpoena power in the courts. This greatly hindered the organization’s case against the Nittany Lions. (Read this for more of an explanation.)
It’s also worth noting (if you carefully read the language in the release) that if Baylor cleans things up over the next few months, no penalty at all could be issued.
We have all given the NCAA a lot of flack for a lot of insistent and ridiculous decisions, but my gut tells me the organization along with the Big 12 (watching from a distance), learned a lot from Penn State.
It seems like every day something new – a new court case or more awful details – are emerging from Waco.
The Big 12 and the NCAA can sit back and let the courts, who do have subpoena power, do the dirty work here. Then, when all questions have been answered, the organizations can swoop in with heavier punishment.
This is my hope as to what is currently happening regarding Baylor.
