Jim Grobe, former Wake Forest coach, was hired as interim head coach to replace Art Briles today. Grobe had a pretty dismal run to end his Wake career and seemed to have no more gas left in his 64-year old tank. His teams played solid defense and uninspired ofrense. Strange move by Baylor. Sort of makes you think there are more dominos to fall in the coaching ranks at BU.
OT: Baylor Hires Grobe
- Thread starter NJCat
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Exactly the kind of hire you want to make if you're looking for a purely interim coach. Given that Briles' staff will stay in place (though Kendal Briles' tenure may be a bit awkward), he can basically come in and act purely as a CEO/caretaker without any promises of a long-term gig.
Not only his, but also Jeff Lebby's tenure because Lebby is married to Art's daughter.
Grobe's hiring suggests that a big search will be underway after the season and a housecleaning could be in order. If Grobe does really well, there might be a temptation to keep him but retain the system and as many assistants as possible, but that would be a mistake on par with WVU's retention of Bill Stewart after Stewart won a bowl game as the Mountaineers' interim head coach.
I think it's a great hire for the interim. Clearly, winning isn't the priority at Baylor in the short term and Grobe is a very steady hand. I can't imagine anyone from the current staff will survive (this wasn't all Art Briles in isolation) and Grobe has an excellent record in terms of player development. If you recall, there was a two or three year period where Wake didn't play a single true freshman. To me, this suggests a preference to allow young men to grow up a little before actually taking the field. At Baylor, this seems like a necessary step.
Don't kid yourself, the boosters at Baylor expect winning, always. If the "death penalty" isn't given then the entire staff should be fired and the big buck boosters forbidden from giving. Baylor FB and BB has been dirty for a long time and just rearranging the deck chairs will not change that.
You really can't help being a contrarian even when we're pretty much on the same side of this.
I disagree with you here, Willy. I would say that's more the case at a place like Texas A&M or Texas, but the alums and "big buck boosters" at Baylor are going to be much less tolerant of these types of transgressions. Sure, they want to win, but not at any price. I know the culture at Baylor pretty well - my mom and uncle went there, and my great-uncle was a professor there for many years - and I just don't know many Baylor people who would shrug off these things as a side effect of having a successful program. It took awhile, but the head coach, the AD, and the university president are now gone.
If winning wasn't a priority, they would have shut down their program until their Title IX compliance was in order. The kids could have transferred freely. That's what PSU should have done and that's what BU is failing to do now. The Bears have simply followed the lead of PSU's crisis management. In a few years, they will probably hire James Franklin and return to scuzzy profiteering.
It boggles my mind that anyone thinks a college football team would voluntarily shut down their program. Do we not understand that what is happening here is nothing to do with righting the wrongs of the past? It's about optics. They've hired a guy who is a steady hand. He's not going to win, but he'll happily take a few mediocre seasons on his mediocre record and "clean up" the off field side of the program. The administration is gone and he'll do while they get a new AD and until the dust settles. Once the dust settles, which it inevitably will in a couple of years, they'll hire a proper coach for whom winning is more of a priority and hopefully (for them) they'll put out a winning football team without guys raping anyone.
Anyone who thinks that any program will self impose a death penalty or actually be handed the death penalty again is simply naive. Football isn't about doing the right thing. It's about appearing to do the right thing. For Baylor, Grobe is a great hire. He'll achieve their objective. He'll drive the bus while the dust settles.
In the background, what's left of the athletic department will be scuttling around begging the boosters not to close their wallets. That's the real bottom line.
Hope what you say is true but the few Baylor boosters that I've met certainly weren't the 'above the board" types. Isn't Starr still employed by the university?
The Network gave the hire a ringing endorsement, citing Grobe's non-nonsense, no favorites approach when it comes to player conduct and responsibility. There is one anecdote about Grobe sitting an all-conference LB for a half because he simply missed a class.
Willy, Ken Starr is now "chancellor" at Baylor and has "no operating responsibility inside the university". Not sure what that means, exactly.
You may be right with your cynicism. Baylor recently built a big, new football stadium, and I'm sure they all enjoy having a full stadium with a winning team. Go back to the doormat Baylor Bears of old, and people will definitely grumble.
Baylor started a real push 10-15 years ago to become a highly ranked, national research university, with the goal of being on par with the Vanderbilts and Dukes of the world. That may be unrealistic, but it was the path set forward by the president before Starr. As we all know, athletic success can bring a school national attention very quickly, and having a winning football team was no doubt part of the plan to make Baylor more known and relevant on the national stage. So maybe they did sell their souls to make a name for themselves, and they've reached their day of reckoning now. Humility and feelings of guilt are prominent among Baptists, and my guess is that Baylor's leaders are now having a long look in the mirror.
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He's out the Chancellor role. He's still teaching.
I don't know what his role was in any of this or what his role should've been so I'm not saying any opinion on the subject. I just saw that his still has his teaching role.
Just heard that also but as school president shouldn't he have had a role in this? Also just heard that 7 or 8 of Baylor's committed recruits are looking elsewhere.
Starr will be fine. Simply retire to millions, with some consultant/analyst gig. Because, America. One the other hand, there is yet one more 90's circus clown who is about to lose everything hoped for. For that person, this trite trope will indeed apply.
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