Ouster of Briles and Starr at Baylor is surprising only in that it took this long

“Shocked” was among the words Baylor Board of Regents chair Richard Willis used in a statement Thursday to describe a law firm’s findings of “the extent of these acts of sexual violence on our campus,” and institutional responses that fell somewhere between inept and immoral.

But unless he meant “shocked” the way Claude Rains did in “Casablanca,” which is to say not at all and by looking the other way, it’s hard to believe there was much mystery left by the time the report was made public.

That’s when it became an overdue catalyst for the firing of football coach Art Briles, the sanction and probation of athletic director Ian McCaw and “reassignment” of president Ken Starr — once known for his voracious investigation of President Bill Clinton and now for his negligence with a crisis in plain view.

It’s not just the evident toxic trail, which has included accusations of local police complicity, that makes all this less than shocking, though.

It’s also because it simply affirms an ugly truism: Winning justifies the ways and means.

If Briles weren’t 50-15 the last five years and infusing swagger into a blah program that was able to unfurl a new $266 million stadium two years ago, you can believe that he would have been gone long ago under the crush of allegations that had to reach critical mass for a reaction.

So this also is a moment to reflect on how much this is purely about Baylor and how much this easily could be playing out at a theater near you because of the warped place college athletics, and particularly football, occupy in a university culture.

“Football coaches and staff took affirmative steps to maintain internal control over discipline of players and to actively divert cases from the student conduct or criminal processes,” the Pepper Hamilton law firm wrote in its report on Baylor. “In some cases, football coaches and staff had inappropriate involvement in disciplinary and criminal matters or engaged in improper conduct that reinforced an overall perception that football was above the rules, and that there was no culture of accountability for misconduct.”

Does that sound surprising?

Or to be expected when coaches often are viewed as CEOs of their own companies independent of the university?

For all the shame in the scene at Baylor, it’s easy to see how the excesses flourished in the insulated biosphere many coaches seek to make their programs in the name of control and “we know best.”

Too often, for instance, coaches engage in their own “fact-finding” missions before turning it over to the judge and jury of … themselves.

Even with the best of intentions, that’s a problem.

Without the best of intentions, and let’s suggest that was the case at Baylor, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

“Football staff conducted their own untrained personal inquiries, outside of policy, which improperly discredited complainants and denied them the right to a fair, impartial and informed investigation, interim measures or processes promised under University policy,” the law firm wrote.

That assessment was under the sub-category of “Barriers to Implementation of Title IX within Baylor’s Football Program,” but proper compliance has been a challenge for any number of schools including the University of Missouri and Kansas.

Baylor’s problems, though, seem quite on another tier from those of other schools.

And an absence of oversight, and decency, had become evident in the football program, amplified by Briles’ arrogance and lack of accountability as issue after issue after issue within his program had become public in the last year.

Shocking?

The landscape began to become clear last year after former football player Sam Ukwuachu was convicted of sexually assaulting a former Baylor soccer player.

Ukwuachu was indicted in 2014 for the 2013 incident but remained on full scholarship.

That ultimately led to scrutiny of a previous accusation of abusing a girlfriend made against Ukwuachu when he was at Boise State — an accusation then-Boise State coach Chris Petersen said he had made Briles aware of but that Briles denied knowing.

Soon reports surfaced that Baylor had shrugged off repeated allegations of assault against former player Tevin Elliott, who was convicted on two counts of sexual assault in 2014 after five women told police he’d attacked them.

Among other allegations looming, Baylor faces a federal lawsuit from a former student alleging the school was “deliberately indifferent” to rape allegations against Elliott before he was ultimately convicted of assaulting her and receiving a 20-year sentence.

And “deliberately indifferent” is the takeaway here.

Not just for at Baylor but for all of us.

Because nobody should be shocked to see blind faith abused — especially when there’s so much latitude and incentive to do it and with so many fans willing to rationalize in the name of winning.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Ouster of Briles and Starr at Baylor is surprising only in that it took this long."