Time to shut down Baylor football, now

Football is a sport that garners plenty of attention and strong feelings from both sides.

Lifelong proponents say football does a better job of turning boys into men and upstanding citizens than almost any other sport.

Opponents look at the carnage on the field, lives ruined and cut short from a violent game and question it’s worth.

I’d venture to say fans of the sport are closer to the truth than those who aren’t.

Except in the case of the Baylor football program.

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There has yet to be a school, besides Penn State, that clearly deserved to receive the so-called “death penalty” given to Southern Methodist University in 1986.

SMU ran a wild west program for more than a decade resulting in the creation of under-the-table payments to players starting in the mid-1970s before having the 1987 and 1988 seasons canceled.

The problem with the NCAA is they put far too much weight on players receiving money illegally while letting more egregious violations slide.

Penn State, which allowed a now-convicted child predator to run rampant for possibly several decades, received a four-year postseason ban and harsh scholarship restrictions instead of the death penalty in July 2012.

Both penalties were lifted early and the Nittany Lions played in this year’s Rose Bowl, hardly a long time to think about their actions.

Compare Penn State’s fate to SMU, which has still failed to regain its status as a powerhouse 31 years later.

This all brings us back to Baylor, where the players have allegedly taken the carnage and violence from the field and transferred it to campus and surrounding areas.

A federal lawsuit alleges at least 31 players committed at least 52 acts of rape from 2011 to 2014.

The lawsuit is pending, but if the true numbers are even a fraction of what is being reported, it’s time for Baylor to lose its football program, much like SMU.

The NCAA issued that severe of a penalty over what it considered a program built on lies, rules infractions and corruption.

If that doesn’t sound like Baylor currently, I don’t know what could.

At first glance, people might be quick to say 52 incidents might seem too high of a number. It’s probably even higher than that, though.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only 36 percent of rapes, 34 percent of attempted rapes and 26 percent of sexual assaults are ever reported.

Following those statistics, there could be upward of 200 sexual assaults that happened because a school and program finally started winning some football games.

Victims decline to come forward because of the stigma associated with the crime, even though they themselves are not to blame.

Former Baylor coach Art Briles, according to court documents filed earlier this month, when receiving word a player had allegedly exposed himself to a masseuse, asked if the victim was a stripper.

Briles is also accused of helping cover up or reduce punishments to his players for similar or worse actions.

He was dismissed before this past season, but has still plenty of support from those close to the university and football program.

It’s time for those in charge of a sport that boasts turning players into upstanding citizens to start acting on those principles.

The Big 12 took a good first step, announcing plans to withhold 25 percent of conference revenue until Baylor fixes its problems.

It's a start, but not enough.

The Baylor football program, if allegations prove to be true, needs to be shut down.

Now.

Before anyone else gets hurts.

Tom Dombeck can be reached at 920-686-2965, tdombeck@htrnews.com or follow on Twitter at @Tom_Dombeck