Baylor Reportedly Fires University President Kenneth Starr [UPDATE: Hold the phone...]

Submitted by FrankMurphy on

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/05/24/kenneth-starr-reportedly-to-be-removed-as-baylor-president-amid-football-scandal/

EDIT: Looks like the reports may not have been totally accurate, though the regents weren't all that emphatic in refuting them: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/05/24/kenneth-starr-ousted-as-baylor-prez.html

The news is probably just premature. I doubt Starr survives this, since Baylor doesn't consider him integral to their goal of winning the Big 12, no matter what the cost. But I'm sure they have a perfectly good explanation for why Briles doesn't deserve any of the blame. /s 

Tater

May 24th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^

Not only is it "business as usual" at UT, it's still "business as usual" in EL.  I know I should "let go" of this, but I am every bit as pisssed about the Wonders Hall coverup and the two players involved being allowed to play a total of eight years for "Tom Izzo as I was when I first heard about it.

Tater

May 24th, 2016 at 2:03 PM ^

"Sometimes the pupil destroys the teacher!"

There was no pupil/teacher relationship here.  In addition, Hendrix didn't "destroy" Dylan. Dylan and Hendrix wern't competing for anything; they showed a lot of mutal self-respect.

That is like saying 'Trane "destroyed Rodgers and Hammerstein" with his mind-boggling version of "My Favorite Things." 

ScruffyTheJanitor

May 25th, 2016 at 8:53 AM ^

A number of his songs were written when he was stoned, so he doesn't remember what he was thinking. There are some very obvious examples where he does in fact "believe" what he was writing, and in Chronicles I remember a point at which he was surrouned by old books in New Orleans and that inspired him to write a song. So while some of his songs (Highway 61, I believe, is an example) were infact so much non-sense, that is only true for some of his work. 

For the record, "Shelter from the Storm" and "Tangled Up in Blue" are his best songs. And I actually like Dylan's version of "Along the Watchtower" better than Hendrix-- it sounds more desperate to me.  Of course, I also really like Nashville Skyline which a few Dylan fans I know despise. 

NittanyFan

May 24th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^

The Board of Regents knows (they've previewed it) --- not sure if Starr previewed it or not?

This could be interesting.  Starr's a political creature, I can see him trying to take others down with him.

Heywood_Jablome

May 24th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^

Not sure this is the guy they should be firing.  Guys way up on the ladder like this usually don't know what's going on beneth them. Briles is the one who should be fired.

Heywood_Jablome

May 24th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^

Not really.  This just gives the appearance that Baylor is doing something without actually doing anything. Briles is the one who covered this stuff up.  It's like a local manager of a Burger King spitting in the food and then the company goes and fires the CEO.  The manager is the one who needs to be fired.

wolpherine2000

May 24th, 2016 at 1:13 PM ^

...mutually exclusive. Starr was in charge of governance and compliance for the entire university, so the buck stops with him and it seems he was implicated by the university's independent investigation - there's no way he doesn't get fired out of this.  That said, Baylor will ultimately be measured by who else is punished for what was obviously at best a systemic failure and at worst a cynical conspiracy.  I had some dealings with Starr when he was at Pepperdine - dude can be a nasty MF and if there are others to blame you can be sure they are all going to go down with him.

NittanyFan

May 24th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^

reading between the lines: Starr appears to be implicated in the report (to some degree).  

Now the questions are: (1) who else is implicated?, (2) do all of us get to see the report?, and (3) does Starr go scorched Earth?

I struggle to see a scenario where Baylor can keep Briles, while answering "no" to question 2.  Because in that scenario, question (1) remains an open quesiton (as regards Briles).

As you said, Baylor's "ultimate measuring stick" is still to come here.

True Blue Grit

May 24th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^

IMO they also need to fire Briles and the athletic director who were also enablers.  Otherwise, the regents lose credibility and it looks like they're still protecting the football program.  They certainly don't want to look like Penn State. 

turtleboy

May 24th, 2016 at 1:09 PM ^

Exactly. I know the President is culpible, but did the players even miss a game? If the President gets fired for covering up football player transgressions, it should only come after the Head Coach gets fired first, then the Athletic Director. The regents know full well, though, that winning football games means $$$ so nothing else matters. 

Mr Miggle

May 24th, 2016 at 1:45 PM ^

and his priorities should have been different than the coach and AD. Also, you want a new president in place before you hire their replacements. Briles has a much bigger contract than the others. If they want to fire him, they'll negotiate the terms of his departure. It will be much less messy to let him resign, probably cheaper too.

Yeoman

May 24th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^

It has to be done from the top down. Interim president hires interim athletic director, who handles Briles's departure and hires a new coach.

Otherwise you've got the current president and AD, who are implicated along with Briles, handling the negotations over Briles's firing/resignation/buyout. That can't happen.