CREECH: BEARS ARE BACK.
Baylor completes a remarkable recovery under coach Rhule from tainted reputation
Matt Rhule and his Baylor Bears couldn’t completely do it. They couldn’t take down Oklahoma and win the Big 12 at AT&T Stadium on Saturday. • But they came pretty darn close. • Close enough that it’s safe to laud Baylor for its complete turnaround. • From 1-11 and a severely tainted reputation to playing in the Big 12 championship game and nearly beating regular-season conference champion OU with a third-string true freshman quarterback. • It’s pretty remarkable.
Baylor didn’t just rebuild and become a respectable, competitive football team again.
The Bears became downright likable. They earned fans they never had and helped put Big 12 football back in the spotlight.
Rhule should be given every coach of the year award and his staff and team celebrated for pulling off what seemed unthinkable just three years ago.
When it was all said and done Saturday afternoon, OU did what it was supposed to do and won its fifth straight Big 12 championship with a 30-23 overtime win over the Bears. The Sooners put themselves in position to take one of the top four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Baylor finished the regular season 11-2 and should remain in the top 10 of the CFP rankings and in a desirable postseason bowl game.
The game didn’t disappoint. It was competitive, full of drama, showcased Oklahoma’s defense, which needed the boost after some inconsistency, and highlighted Rhule’s coaching.
The Bears used three different quarterbacks and still were right there with the Sooners the whole game.
This game was precisely what the Big 12 needed to prove that its championship game matters and that the conference belongs in the CFP conversation even when its other flagship team in Austin is underperforming.
Baylor played a very good Oklahoma team twice this season and showed that it very much belonged on the field in both games.
In overtime, the Bears failed to convert on a fourth down to keep the game going. It was a crushing loss for the team that came so close.
Rhule won’t count this or any other as a moral victory, either.
But as Baylor left the stadium to head back to Waco and prepare for a bowl game, there was a lot to celebrate.
In 2013 and 2014, the Bears sat at the top of the conference.
They were regularly in the mix, a team to keep an eye on full of NFL prospects. Then-coach Art Briles had transformed the program into a winning one.
Just after the 2015 season, Briles — among others — was fired from the university amid sexual-assault allegations, Title IX violations and a report that claimed the football progam “acted above the rules.”
A season later, the rest of
Briles’ staff cleared out. While many of them have landed at other universities, the stigma they carried from Baylor remains, as do so many questions about what exactly happened and who allowed it.
While Briles was shunned from college football — and others on his staff should have been — Baylor turned to Rhule, a coach far removed from Baylor, Texas and anyone involved in the scandal.
Rhule, who coached at Temple before taking the job in Waco, was highly sought after. He said the fit at Baylor seemed right. It was a place where he could make a difference.
He’s done that.
Rhule isn’t perfect and doesn’t claim to be. Instead, he strives for transparency and goes all in on his players and the program.
He wants to win and also wants Baylor to be seen in a good light again.
Rhule believes in what he’s doing. He’s genuinely enjoying the role and it shows.
While he’s pushing his team to focus on football, recruiting players to come to a revitalized program at Baylor and trying to move forward without forgetting the program’s past mistakes, Briles has become an afterthought.
For years after his firing, Briles’ strong following has defended his honor on social media, at games with signs of support and by continuing to speak out.
As the Bears kept improving on the field, those cries all got quieter.
Rhule showed he could run a program under a lot of scrutiny and win games while doing it.
Briles is at Mount Vernon, where he’s experienced controversy with ineligible players in his first year of coaching at the small East Texas high school. When his name was brought up for the recent UTSA coaching vacancy, the athletic director quickly shut it down. His name has been linked to other coaching searches and he could end up at the college level again.
But the reputation of Briles and his Baylor assistants won’t go away. And it’s a tough one to shed.
Baylor still has work to do. The university still has pending lawsuits, victims it needs to attempt to care for (despite it being too late) and changes to make from the top down to ensure the safety and well-being of its students.
Hopefully, the school is as committed as it seems to be to do all of those things the right way.
One thing it can be proud of is the turnaround of its football program — an area that needed a fresh start.
Nothing will ever make what happened at Baylor OK. Dozens of brave victims have told their stories. Those are important and matter more than any football game ever will.
Still, this season the Bears have a lot to celebrate. On Saturday, despite coming up a win short of a Big 12 championship, it was clear the football team has turned it around.
Rhule took a terrible situation, committed to fixing it and put Baylor back into the conversation it wants to be in — one about winning football games.
And doing that the right way.