COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Two years ago, the Baylor football program was in complete shambles.
The Bears had been mired in sexual assault scandals that lasted nearly a decade, and as word began to spread and victims began to come forward, the football program that was reaching its peak in terms of on-field success was facing a plummet toward rock bottom.
Baylor nearly shattered every bone in its body when it got there, but with the help of a semi-unknown commodity in Matt Rhule, not only have the Bears made a full recovery, they are back to being one of the best teams in the Big 12. And it happened way faster than anyone could have ever expected.
This column is not to simplify the convictions or allegations made against former Baylor football players, or to undermine their victims, but to show how quickly on-field success can change with the right person in charge. Rhule was there for the picking when the Bears needed a new head coach after the 2016 season, and while it’s been a bumpy ride, it was a short trip to find freshly paved highway.
So let’s go back … Baylor was one of the top up-and-coming programs in the country, riding the success of Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III following the 2011 season. Head coach Art Briles was one of the brightest offensive minds in the country, and after taking a slight step back to eight wins in 2012, the Bears rattled off 11 wins in 2013 and 2014, and 10 in 2015.
Baylor was even in the middle of the College Football Playoff conversation in 2014, but unbeknownst to anyone outside of the program, sexual and non-sexual assault claims were running rampant.
In January 2017, a lawsuit claimed that 31 football players committed 52 rapes from 2011-14. Players such as Tevin Elliot, Sam Ukwuachu and Shawn Oakman were charged with sexual assault, though Oakman was found innocent of those claims this year.
As a result, Briles was ousted as head coach, and President Ken Starr, Athletic Director Ian McCaw and Title IX Coordinator Patty Crawford all resigned. The football program was in shambles prior to the 2016 season.
Still, under interim coach Jim Grobe, the Bears won seven games last year and even reached No. 8 in the AP poll after a 6-0 start. However, they lost six in a row to end the regular season before winning the Cactus Bowl against Boise State.
Still, there was a lot of attrition the following offseason with players transferring out and commits deciding Baylor wasn’t the best place for them. It seemed like an impossible job for anyone to step into.
Meanwhile, Rhule took Temple from a laughing stock to a consistent winner in the American Conference. In his first season with the Owls in 2013, he won just two games. By his final season in 2016, he won 10, including an American Conference title.
It was clear Rhule was going to be a candidate for a big-name job, but it was shocking when he decided to be a part of the massive rebuild at Baylor.
“One of the main issues is the numbers are going to be down, so you love to fill the whole thing, and you still won’t be at full scholarships,” Rhule said during his introductory news conference in December 2016. “We have some work to do on that, but at the end of the day, we’re going to make sure we take the right kids and the kids that fit Baylor and what we’re doing. There aren’t many guys committed right now, but kids are reaching out left and right. Kids that committed other places, they want to come to Baylor.”
While he said and did all the right things, the 2017 season was just as bad as many thought. The Bears went 1-11, and many players decided Rhule’s hard-nosed, no-nonsense style wasn’t for them, so they went elsewhere. But it was obvious to those who wanted to stick around that things were going in a positive direction.
Just a year later, it all started to come to fruition.
The Bears won seven games in 2018, including a Texas Bowl win over Vanderbilt. Two years prior, many were calling for the school to disband the football program.
As of Thursday, before the Bears host West Virginia, Rhule has the Bears at 7-0 (4-0 Big 12) and No. 12 in the AP poll, sitting alone at the top of the Big 12 standings.
The turnaround has been remarkable, and Rhule has Baylor as one of the best all-around teams in the conference — it ranks No. 1 in scoring defense (19.1 points per game) and third in scoring offense (38.9 points per game).
Players have bought into everything Rhule tried to instill nearly three years ago, and he’s bought into the Texas culture that any school in the Lone Star State needs to do.
The situations are no where close to the same off the field, but what Rhule has done at Baylor is living proof that no matter how bad it seems in the present, if the right person is in charge, then winning can happen quickly.
For Rhule, the cupboard was totally bare when he was hired. For WVU’s Neal Brown, there is still a lot of talent on the Mountaineers (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) roster, and while this season shows major growing pains, results don’t mean everything. Steady growth, and young players and recruits buying in to what Brown is preaching can make this transition from Dana Holgorsen much smoother.
If West Virginia is anything like Baylor, and many believe Brown is most certainly the right man for this job, 2021 may be special for the Mountaineers.
Just look no further than what WVU will face Thursday.
