Jackson Free Press

It is easy to say that Baylor University is a prime example of what is bad about college sports. The university is a textbook example of how the win-at-all-cost approach can lead an institution of higher learning into selling its morals for wins.

A major sexual-assault scandal broke out at Baylor with police arresting defensive end Tevin Elliott for rape charges in 2012 and his conviction in 2014. New information shows that then-head coach Art Briles helped Elliott stay on campus.

Elliott was accused of a second count of plagiarism that would have him suspended from the university and ineligible for the 2011 season. He missed an April 2011 deadline to appeal, but Briles personally got involved to help Elliott get an appeal.

Briles sent an email to then-university President Ken Starr about overturning the suspension, which Starr did, allowing Elliott to stay in school and on the team.

Briles, Starr and assistant coaches continued to hide or fix problems that Elliott had in missing classes, meaning those in charge at Baylor helped Elliott stay on campus, where he ended up raping a woman.

Elliott isn’t the only case at Baylor. Repeatedly, the coaches and even the Waco Police Department buried reports of players’ misbehavior. Recent reports show that the coaches tried to get people who Baylor football players had victimized not to press charges or report incidents.

A Title IX lawsuit from one woman alleges that from 2011 to 2014, at least 31 players committed 52 sexual assaults. Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton revealed in a report that 17 women reported sexual assault or domestic violence from 19 players, including four gang rapes.

The scandal eventually took down Starr, Briles, assistant coaches and others in positions of leadership. Those in power did nearly everything possible to keep players from being arrested or charged with crimes, and tried to hinder the work of Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford.

Baylor isn’t a program that traditionally won a ton of games, and the last bowl game before the university hired Briles in 2008 was in 1994. The school’s last winning record before Briles was in 1995.

Under Briles, Baylor won 10 games in a season four times, and before him, it had won 10 games just once in program history. There is no question of whether Briles could recruit and coach, but when it came down to integrity and morality, he failed as a leader.

Winning mattered more at Baylor than players committing physical and sexual assault. Another recent lawsuit alleges that regents in a meeting with Baylor alumni and donors on why they couldn’t keep Briles and other involved in the scandals because they “didn’t uphold with the mission of the university.”

One donor is quoted as saying in the same meeting: “If you mention Baylor’s mission one more time, I’m (going to) throw up. … I was promised a national championship.”

The NCAA is …

Before the focus on the NFL shifts from the regular season to the offseason, we should discuss a few things that happened before Super Bowl LI and going forward to the NFL Combine.

If you missed it, Saturday night, Feb. 4, which was the night before the Super Bowl, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was named Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year at the NFL Honors ceremony. On Friday, Feb. 3, he was named Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year. His coach, Jason Garrett, won AP NFL Coach of the Year.

Dallas thought Prescott would end up sitting out this year and learning behind veterans Tony Romo and Kellen Moore. Instead, Moore broke a bone in his leg in practice to move to second string, and early in the preseason, Romo injured his back making Prescott the starter. All the rookie from Mississippi State did was lead the Cowboys to the best record in the NFC and playoffs.

Prescott is the first Dallas player to win the award since Emmitt Smith in 1990. Smith went on to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher and helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls.

Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott finished second in the voting. Prescott thanked the 31 teams that passed on him and wished he could cut the award in half to share with Elliott.

Prescott now has to follow up his amazing rookie season with more of the same in 2017. He won’t be under the radar, and everyone will look to see if he has a sophomore slump.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan won Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year and NFL MVP but continued the trend of NFL MVPs losing the Super Bowl. Ryan’s offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan won AP Assistant Coach of the Year.

San Diego Chargers linebacker Joey Bosa won AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and Green Bay Packer wide receiver Jordy Nelson was named AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year after recovering from a knee injury. Oakland Raiders linebacker Khalil Mack was named AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The NFL honored its past on Super Bowl weekend. During the NFL Honors, the 2017 NFL Hall of Fame Class was announced. Long-time New Orleans Saints kicker Morten Andersen was voted into the hall.

Andersen was one of the Saints’ biggest offensive weapons in the 1980s and 1990s and is the leading scorer in NFL, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons history. He is just the second player to make the hall strictly as a kicker. The first is Jan Stenerud.

In Andersen’s 25 seasons in the NFL, he played in 325 games, which is also a NFL record, while playing for five teams and racked up 2,544 points. He is one of the first kickers to make 40- and 50-yard field goals look easy.

Joining Andersen in the hall is St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, Miami Dolphins defensive end …

Based on the odds of terrorism actually taking place (as calculated by the right-leaning Cato Institute) a blanket ban on immigrants (much less people actually holding a green card or visa waiver) coming into the country tackles a "problem" that presents a very small threat to most Americans.

Former University of Mississippi Damore’ea Stringfellow is one of 95 underclassmen to declare for the 2017 NFL Draft. Monday, Jan. 16, was the deadline for players who are three years out of high school to announce their intentions.

Some players who decided to forgo their college eligibility received information from the NFL’s College Advisory Committee, which graded them as a first- or second-round pick. An interesting article on ESPN.com from Kevin Seifret took a closer look at the process.

Those who received a favorable free evaluation from the CAC are graded just on their football potential. The CAC doesn’t look at their off-the-field issues, or academic or medical problems.

A great example used in the story is University of Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon. There is no doubt that Mixon has first- or second-round talent on the field, but it will be interesting to see how teams view his year-long suspension for assault in 2014.

A video of Mixon punching a woman in the face and breaking her jaw, cheekbone and eye socket came out in December 2016. Recently the NFL has mishandled some very public cases of domestic assault .

Mixon entering the draft is another case where the league could be scrutinized depending on where he is drafted. If the talented running back is taken in the first round, it proves that winning in football matters more than off-the-field issues.

Just looking at football talent, it makes sense for players such as former Louisiana State University running back Leonard Fournette and Texas A&M University defensive end Myles Garrett to leave school early. That is not the case with every player who does, though.

Some get bad advice from friends and family or look to improve their life and their families’ lives by becoming a professional player. During the NFL Combine, it is good to hear NFL Network’s Mike Mayock’s evaluation of players.

Mayock is quick to point out that he doesn’t know a player’s personal situation, but he can tell if the player should have stayed in school and might be hurt by coming out early. That doesn’t mean Mayock is correct on every case.

In the 2015-2016 season, 322 players were evaluated, and 73 were told to return to school but declared for the draft anyway. Of those 73, 11 went in the first or second round, but 20 went undrafted.

That is the tricky part of the draft. It only takes one team to fall in love with a player and have need at that position.

Sometimes draft order hurts a player. One prime example is current Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The draft order of the 2005 NFL Draft meant that Rodgers could, and eventually did, slide after the San Francisco 49ers made their pick at No. 1.

That meant Rodgers fell all the way to the 24th pick, mainly because teams after the 49ers felt …

Below is an open letter from the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference reproduced in full:

An Open Letter to All Mississippians and Our Leaders

We, the undersigned religious leaders, educators, community leaders, and citizens of Mississippi, hereby express our alarm at the increase in hate crimes and acts of abuse against Muslims and other minorities in Mississippi and across the United States.

We know that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and we will not be silent and allow hatred against fellow Mississippians to go unnoticed and unchecked. We will not accept as normal the increasing violence in speech, action, and policies against our neighbors.

We call out our politicians and civic leaders, asking them to condemn as we do the toleration of abusive speech of political leaders against Muslims, women, and others. Such words and actions inflame and justify hatred, are counter to the Constitution, and will always harm the fabric of our democracy.

We know that some of our neighbors, tragically some of them children, Muslims and other religious minorities, have experienced abuse that creates fear and anxiety about their personal safety and acceptance in the United States. Those fears are justified based on the words and actions of politicians and their supporters, and these hurtful actions are documented by reputable sources such as the FBI.

We will stand with you, whether you are a Muslim, African-American, immigrant, ethnic minority, LGBTQ person, woman, Mexican, disabled person, or anyone who has felt threatened by recent events in the United States. We want you to know that we will support you and uphold your rights and human dignity. We open our hearts and arms to help you.

We believe and advocate for "liberty and justice for all," equally and without bias.

We will not be silent. We will not close our eyes.

In Faith,

The Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference (www.msrlc.org/)

The following organizations* have endorsed this letter:

 Beth Israel Congregation, Jackson

 International Museum of Muslim Cultures

 Jackson Board of Rabbis

 League of Women Voters of Jackson

 Masjid Muhammed

 Millsaps Jewish Culture Organization/Hillel

 Millsaps Religious Studies Department

 Millsaps Secular Society

 Millsaps Religious Studies Club

 Mississippi Black Methodists for Church Renewal

 Mississippi Center for Justice

 Mississippi Human Services Coalition

 Mississippi Low Income Childcare Initiative

 Mississippi Muslim Association

 Moor Community House

 Steps Coalition

 Temple B'nai Israel, Tupelo

 The Baha'i Jackson Cluster

 Tougaloo College Center for International Studies and Global Change

 Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson

*We are continuing to collect even more signatories from

the state of Mississippi.