Interim Coach Jim Grobe On Baylor’s Culture: ‘We Have Quality Kids’

Jim Grobe’s first impression as Baylor’s interim coach at Big 12 Media Days was not a particularly positive one for the university, whose image is still somewhat tarnished.

Interim Coach Jim Grobe on Baylor’s Culture: ‘We Have Quality Kids’

Following an awkward press conference Tuesday morning, Grobe returned in the afternoon and clarified his views on the culture surrounding sexual assault that has caused a stir on campus in recent months.

“I have to talk about what I’ve found since I’ve been at Baylor, not what happened before I got there because obviously there was a problem in the culture dealing with these issues. That’s why we don’t have a president, an (athletics director) and a football coach and some staff members that were released,” Grobe said. “The only thing I can talk about is to let you know that since I’ve been at Baylor, the kids that are on our football team are really, really good kids. That’s what I’ve seen.”

The former Wake Forest football coach continued: “When you talk about a culture, you kind of throw everybody under a blanket. I can only talk about what I’ve seen with our team since I’ve gotten here. We have a lot of quality, quality kids and I think we’ve got some moms and dads that are upset because when you start talking about a culture, that tends to say everybody.”

Earlier, Grobe, 64, appeared to struggle to adequately describe the fallout from the sexual assault scandal as misbehavior of a small proportion of former players, saying, “we don’t have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University.” He then added a somewhat controversial statement, saying, “the problems we have dealt with at Baylor are probably problems at every university in the country.”

The origin of this upheaval at Baylor is that there was systematic failure in the manner players were recruited, monitored and disciplined, leading to several women becoming victims. The summary Baylor released publicly from the Pepper Hamilton law firm’s investigation used the word culture numerous times in its critique of the systems Baylor had in place to deal with sexual assault allegations. Within just a few days, the school severed ties with football coach Art Briles, athletics director Ian McCaw and school president Kenneth Star. The university is now undergoing huge reform at the administrative level to become compliant with Title IX.

’m just observing right now, but what I do know in talking to the staff, the strength coaches, the academic service people, we don’t have a lot of kids that are in trouble all the time,” Grobe said. “Do we have the same kind of problems that I’ve dealt with for 40 years? Being late to class, missing weights, those sorts of things. But the egregious stuff, it wasn’t dealt with properly in the past, not having procedures in place to deal with those type problems I think has been rectified. We’ve changed a lot of things. Certain issues go straight to Title IX. We’ve had training with Title IX. Our coaches are much more prepared than they’ve ever been to deal with these problems. My real point is, was there a problem before I got to Baylor with the way these issues were dealt with? Absolutely. I want to support the good kids in our program right now who are doing the right things.”

The three players who attended the conference on behalf of Baylor acknowledged that this has been a difficult time, and that Briles’ removal was a shock for them. Center Kyle Fuller stated the explanation he received for the coaching change “wasn’t satisfactory at all.”

“We’re down right now, but we’re going to built it back up again,” quarterback Seth Russell said.

Baylor’s athletes will undoubtedly continue to deal with questions regarding the culture of sexual violence on campus, particularly with regards to the football team.

“I don’t think we have to explain ourselves. We just have to know ourselves,” cornerback Ryan Reid said. “Everybody on that team is not what people make them out to be. All my teammates are great teammates. They’re great on the field and off the field. We all strive to make great decisions. People don’t have to explain themselves to nobody. Live your life and try to do the right thing every day and you’ll be OK.

“We have to worry about the season coming. We can’t worry about why this or why that. That throws us off what we cam here to do, win football games, win the Big 12, contend for a national championship. That’s what we need to focus on.”

This will surely prove difficult, given that Baylor has an interim head coach and only 70 scholarship players, 15 fewer than the NCAA limit. Grobe added he didn’t plan on changing much of the university’s approach to football.

WINSTON SALEM, NC – OCTOBER 25: Head coach Jim Grobe of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons watches on from the sidelines against the Clemson Tigers during their game at BB&T Field on October 25, 2012 in Winston Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena