Art Briles might not be lying about what he was told by Chris Petersen regarding Sam Ukwuachu, but that does not even come close to absolving him from his handling of the convicted rapist.
Briles and Petersen were engaged in a he said/she said battle on Friday as both tried to distance themselves from Ukwuachu.
Ukwuachu was kicked off the team at Boise State in May 2013, months after he put together a campaign that saw him recognized as a freshman All-American. That Petersen would kick a freshman All-American off his team should have been enough of a red flag to Briles, but the talent-hungry coach apparently wasn’t too worried.
Why was Ukwuachu kicked off the team at Boise State? It was officially stated as a repeated violation of team rules. But Texas Monthly’s investigative piece provides more information on the matter:
In documents from May 2013 obtained by Texas Monthly, Marc Paul, the assistant athletics director at Boise State University, recounts advising to Ukwuachu’s then-girlfriend in Boise that she stay away from the house the two shared for several nights, after he put his fist through a window while drunk. Paul also makes plans for how to get police protection for the couple’s other housemate, who received threatening text messages from Ukwuachu. Handwritten notes in a document from a Boise State source also refer to times that Ukwuachu would get verbally abusive over “small irritants” like a spilled drink, and note that the woman he lived with acknowledged that she would “probably not” admit it if the abuse were physical. It ends with the words “NOT healthy relationship!” underlined.
Boise State knew Ukwuachu was a problem and got rid of him, but Petersen apparently reached out to Briles to see if he would take the kid.
“I was contacted by Coach Petersen at Boise State in spring 2013 and he told me he had a player from Texas who needed to get closer to home and that he thought our program would be a good spot for him,” Briles said in a statement. “I know and respect Coach Petersen and he would never recommend a student-athlete to Baylor that he didn’t believe in. In our discussion, he did not disclose that there had been violence toward women (by Ukwuachu), but he did tell me of a rocky relationship with his girlfriend which contributed to his depression. The only disciplinary action I was aware of were team-related issues, insubordination of coaches and missing practice.”
Here is Briles’ initial statement:
“No mention of anything beyond Sam being depressed and needing to come home,” Briles said. “So that was our information. And that’s what you go by.”
That was a complete oversimplification of things, and Briles definitely was leaving out a lot. Based on the initial statement, we’d say he was lying. Based on the second, more complete statement, it’s possible that Briles is not lying.
It is quite possible that Petersen did not disclose that there had been any violence toward women because it is possible that Petersen himself did not know of any violence Ukwuachu committed towards women. Petersen knew about Ukwuachu’s bad relationship with his girlfriend, which is something Briles says he was told about. At the time of Ukwuachu’s transfer, the young player had not previously been charged for any violent crimes towards women. Boise State did know about his violent behavior and had even warned a girlfriend to stay away from him, but as far as we know, there were not any allegations of violence towards women.
Briles still knew that Ukwuachu was trouble. He knew the guy was kicked off the team at Boise State because of his behavior. Whether Petersen disclosed that Ukwuachu was violent is still in question, but Briles still knew there were major problems with the young player.
Boise State, not exactly a program of high academic or moral standards, kicked a freshman All-American off their team. What more of a sign did Briles need?
On top of all that, Texas Monthly details how none of the Baylor coaches would talk about what was going on with Ukwuachu. It was never even explained that Ukwuachu was not playing during the 2014 season because he had been indicted on a sexual assault charge. Briles and Baylor allowed him to continue being a part of the program, and their defensive coordinator even said in June that they expected Ukwuachu to help the team this upcoming season. Contrast that to other programs and coaches who immediately dismiss players as soon as such allegations arise.
Briles and Baylor need to learn that rape is a serious crime and that it cannot be buried or ignored. They need to learn they cannot admit people to the school who present serious dangers to the student body just because they are great athletes. They also need to learn that you cannot lump rape in with “violation of team rules” as if it’s the same thing as missing meetings or getting into fights with coaches and teammates. That is where Art Briles and Baylor are wrong, even if they could not predict that Ukwuachu would one day rape a fellow student.
