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“A very small percentage of our cases have anything to do with athletics”, Crawford said in the meeting, of which KWTX obtained a recording. “And I've made that very clear to our leadership. This is not an athletics issue in the sense of violence and all these things, this is a human issue.” Crawford pointed out to the staff that just two football players have been convicted of sexual assault during Briles’ tenure at Baylor, a fact that those we spoke with say was lost in the media frenzy. Neither of the two players stepped foot on the field after the coaching staff learned of the accusations. “We had a trial last August where someone was found guilty”, Crawford said. “And then there's another one two years ago related to (athletics). The media loves anything related to athletics. They love that because it's sensational.”[/quote]

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Tevin Elliot was convicted of two counts of sexual assault, for assaulting a former Baylor student in 2012. Elliot was kicked off the team shortly after the team learned about the first sexual assault allegation, in April of 2012, three days before he was arrested and charged with the crime. Sources told KWTX that Briles made the decision to remove him from the team. After being dismissed by Baylor, and after his arrest, Elliot was allowed by the NCAA to transfer to Central Arkansas, where the head coach said he’d be suspended one game for the incident at Baylor. It was that August, while Elliot was a player at Central Arkansas, that the McLennan County Grand Jury indicted him. Sam Ukwuachu was convicted in 2015 of assaulting a former Baylor soccer player in 2013. Ukwuachu transferred from Boise State to play football at Baylor after he was dismissed from that team in May of 2013. A report published in Texas Monthly which set off much of the national firestorm surrounding Baylor’s football program claimed Ukwuachu “had been kicked off the Boise State team for a previous incident of violence involving a female student.”

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However, this has been proven false.

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According to his transfer documentation, Ukwuachu was in good standing with Boise State at the time of his transfer. A statement from Boise State administration later confirmed Ukwuachu was not dismissed from the team for any disciplinary reason, and there were no reports to Boise State about such an incident. Ukwuachu’s father told KWTX he left because he was depressed and homesick, and wanted to be close to his parents, who live near Houston. Ukwuachu never stepped foot on the football field at Baylor. The athletic department and university sources with whom KWTX talked say no player ever played football for Briles while accused of sexual assault. Rami Hammad, offensive lineman for the Bears in 2015, was accused by a student of sexually assaulting her in his apartment early in the fall semester of that year. Sources close to the football team said that Rami was cleared by Title IX in that case. After the season, Hammad was charged with felony stalking in an incident involving his ex-girlfriend. He is currently suspended from team activities pending resolution of that case.

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Stephenville-based lawyer Ernest Cannon represented Briles in a contract mediation with Baylor, but no longer represents the fired coach. He says investigators had access to 8 1/2 years’ worth of Briles’ emails and text messages yet found no evidence of mishandling of a sexual assault or anything the coach would be embarrassed about. “Art Briles never covered up a sexual assault, Art Briles never met with a victim. Art Briles never shamed a victim,” Cannon said. All of the university sources we spoke with said they’ve never seen any evidence Briles handled a sexual assault case improperly. And despite a widely reported story, sources told KWTX Briles never failed to show up to meet with a victim who’s suing the school.

[/quote] ”There is no smoking gun” By all accounts the days leading up to the firing of Briles were chaotic. The sources who spoke with KWTX provided a more detailed timeline of how it all played out.[/quote]

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On May 13, the same day the Baylor regents were given a comprehensive briefing about Pepper Hamilton’s findings, two regents visited Briles’ office, telling him not to worry because “his job was safe.” It was during that meeting the regents also mentioned the board was concerned another alleged assault case might come to light involving two junior college transfers. On May 23, Briles was told by a friend on the board of regents that the board had decided to fire him, although nothing was official. Briles called then-Chairman Richard Willis and asked if he and Ian McCaw could address the regents. The two were given the chance to speak with the board the next day via teleconference, separately. The board made no decision that day. On May 24, a blogger for Horns Digest, a sports website for University of Texas fans, first reported the board would fire Chancellor and President Ken Starr over the scandal. Sources say Starr knew weeks before that his future was being considered, and he secured the help of prominent trial lawyer Mark Lanier to help represent him quietly behind the scenes. Briles, on the other hand, had neither an agent nor a lawyer representing him until after the firing, which Cannon, who describes Briles as almost too trusting, says was his biggest mistake. When asked after seeing all the evidence what was what the worst thing Art Briles did during his seven years leading the Bears, Cannon replied, “Not obtaining a lawyer before speaking to the board.”

This post was edited on 9/25/16 at 11:27 pm