Earlier this week, reports emerged that Baylor University would oust its president, Kenneth Starr—but not its football coach, Art Briles—over sexual assault charges against several Baylor football players and ESPN reports that athletic and school officials had ignored reports of similar assaults by other team members. The idea that the president but not the highly successful and well-compensated football coach at a Texas university would be punished for criminal behavior by football players was met with (justifiable) outrage—and now multiple reports say that Briles will, in fact, be fired. (Starr—who, yes, is that Kenneth Starr—will apparently be removed from the school’s presidency but kept on as chancellor.)
Last fall Baylor, a Baptist school, commissioned a Philadelphia law firm to investigate several football sexual assault cases; the university’s board of regents was reportedly given an update on that investigation in mid-May, but its results haven’t been made public. (Update, 1:05 p.m.: Baylor has released the law firm’s findings. They are very critical of the football coaching staff.)
