For the first time since the Art Briles ordeal started, the Baylor assistants have issued a joint statement. The group has spoken together before -- jointly tweeting a #TRUTHDONTLIE hashtag to coincide with a story where the football office felt they were unfairly scapegoated regarding a player discipline issue -- but this is the first time the staff has spoken out together.
The Baylor administration's continued vow of silence lo these many months -- until the past two weeks, when regents spoke to the Wall Street Journaland 60 Minutes Sports-- has cast an unfair pall on Art Briles's former assistants. By lumping everyone under the same cloud of suspicion, Baylor has made it impossible to separate those who bore some level of responsibility for the campus-wide sexual assault scandal from those who truly had nothing to do with it. How much belongs to either group? We'll never know. And that's part of the problem. (For the record, I'm willing to bet there are more in the second group than the first.)
But those assistants who truly bore no responsibility for this deserve to pursue their careers with their reputations intact.
In the meantime, Baylor continues its pursuit of a third Big 12 championship in four seasons Saturday vs. TCU (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX).