Jackson Free Press

Scandals are nothing new in college sports, especially in football. It wouldn’t be shocking if every school in the country engaged in some sort of rule violation.

Schools in the Power Five conferences—ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC—are going to garner most of the spotlight for those violations. But in reality, not every scandal is equal.

Sure, it is a scandal if a kid asks for money to pay his mom’s rent and utility bills. That story will have legs and be discussed at length by the media, but besides the NCAA, do we really care that much that a kid got money while in college?

To the rival school, it means something, but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that major.

The major story in college athletics is the way http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15562625/waco-police-records-reveal-additional-violence-allegations-baylor-football-players">coaches, administrators and even school presidents turn a blind eye to sexual assaults.

The http://www.si.com/college-football/2016/05/18/baylor-bears-sexual-assault-violence-allegations">recent scandal at Baylor isn’t anything new. It just highlights, again, how schools try to sweep sexual assaults under the rug.

Right now the http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/14675790/baylor-officials-accused-failing-investigate-sexual-assaults-fully-adequately-providing-support-alleged-victims">U.S. Department of Education is investigating 161 institutions for their handling of sexual-assault investigations. Baylor currently isn’t on that list, but you should expect that to change at some point.

It also makes one question if winning on the field is more important than the safety of women on campus.

ESPN has http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15191102/baylor-investigate-sex-assault-claim-football-players-more-two-years-lines">investigated and documented the Baylor scandal in great detail. Baylor looked the other way over sexual assaults from at least 2009 to 2015.

At the same time, the Bears were starting to turn things around on the field. In late 2007 Baylor hired Art Briles away from the University of Houston.

Baylor went 8-16 from 2008 to 2009 on the field but finished with a winning record of 7-6 in 2010. It was the first winning season for the Bears since 1995, and the team went to its first bowl game since 1994.

The Bears were the "feel good" story of college football during the 2011 season, as the team tied a then-school record for wins with 10, won a bowl game for the first time since 1992 and finished the season ranked for the first time since 1986.

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III became the first player from the university to win the Heisman Trophy.

To the outside world, this was one of the great turnaround stories in college football history.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/higher_education/timeline-baylor-sexual-assault-controversy/article_abf21ab8-2267-51bf-84d8-6268f4222af0.html">Off the field was another story for Baylor.

The university failed to investigate sexual assault cases for two years from 2013 to 2015, a violation of Title IX federal law. Baylor didn’t even hire a full-time Title IX coordinator to comply with a federal directive until late 2014.

One glaring case involved two players, Tre’von Armstead and Myke Chatman, who were named in a Waco police department report involving sexual assault in April 2013. The university knew of the report, but Armstead and Chatman were on the team until 2015. It wasn’t until September 2015 that Armstead was dismissed. Chatman had transferred to Sam Houston State University the semester of the accused assault.

Another example of Baylor’s seemingly win-at-all-costs attitude came when the university allowed former Boise State University player Sam Ukwuachu, who was dismissed from the Broncos for a violent incident, to transfer to Baylor.

Ukwuachu was accused in 2013 of raping a Baylor soccer player, his first year on campus. He continued to be on the team—although didn’t he didn’t play—and enrolled at the university.

Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett told a crowd of supporters at a luncheon in June of 2015 that he expected Ukwuachu to play during the 2015 season. Ukwuachu went on trial for the case in August 2015 and was found guilty.

In the case of Ukwuachu, the school conducted a Title IX investigation and cleared him of any wrongdoing. The case didn’t even reach the media until it went to trial, as the Waco police department on several occasions pulled cases from public view.

Police spokesman Patrick Swanton told ESPN’s "Outside the Lines" that the detectives pull cases from public view for privacy concerns, and Baylor football players weren’t getting special treatment.

Former football player Tevin Elliott was convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a former Baylor student and sentenced to 20 years in prison and given a $10,000 fine on each count. ESPN reported that women filed at least six other reports for similar incidents involving him.

On the field, Baylor kept winning. The Bears won eight games in 2012, 11 games in 2013 and 2014, and just last season finished with 10 wins.

Until late 2015, the school did little to investigate or curb sexual assaults. The media attention and outcry on campus might be the only thing that made the university hire http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/15703732/baylor-reviewing-results-investigation-school-response-sexual-violence-allegations">Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton to review how it treated past sexual assault cases.

The scandal has become so big that it could cost http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/the-big-mac-blog/article78523607.html">Briles his job, but he isn’t the only one. http://college.usatoday.com/2016/05/25/baylor-says-kenneth-starr-still-president-despite-reports-of-firing/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567">Baylor President Ken Starr—yes, the same Ken Starr who was part of the investigation of former President Bill Clinton—might be in danger of losing his job, recent reports show.

What is happening at Baylor isn’t different from what is happening all over the country in big-time college football programs. Florida State University didn’t punish star quarterback Jameis Winston when he was accused of sexual assualt.

At FSU, winning a national championship and a chance to repeat it meant more than investigating or punishing Winston. The players at Baylor also received little or no punishment even though the coaches knew about accusations of sexual assault.

There is something wrong with our culture and sports if winning means more than protecting women on college campuses across our country.