In feeling obligated to address Tom Herman’s recent hire of former Baylor assistant director of football operations Casey Horny in this week’s column, it’s probably fair to acknowledge that what happened in Waco is personal to me.
As I’ve previously explained in detail, I was born in Waco. I lived there until I was 10 years old. My first college football game was in 1983 at the old Baylor Stadium when I watched the Bears and Aggies play to a 13-13 tie. My wife went to school at Baylor. So did my paternal grandparents. My father is actually a very notable Baylor alum.
When I was nine years old, my mom used to drop me off at Baylor Stadium and I’d buy an end zone ticket for $3 and I’d stay after the final whistle for more than hour collecting Dr. Pepper cups to take home. Two years after moving to Austin in 1988, I still used to pretend that I was Baylor point guard Michael Williams, replaying a 1988 NCAA Tournament loss to Memphis on a sport-court at our apartment complex countless times.
Hell, if you dig through boxes in my home, you’ll still find a James Francis/Robert Blackmon autographed game program from the 1989 Texas/Baylor game at DKR.
I have a lot of colors in my sports DNA, but I probably have as much green and gold in me as anything else. However, when we talk about the rape scandal that occurred under the watch of Art Briles and those that enabled one of the worst scandals in the history of college athletics, the reasons for this situation being supremely personal go beyond any of those truths.
It was less than a year ago, when a friend of one of the women that Baylor left hanging in the wind for years reached out to the Orangebloods staff to alert us about her friend’s story, a story that none of you probably know because the victim wants it that way. After fleeing the state of Texas after crimes were committed against her by one of Briles’ players, she just wanted the whole thing to go away.
Yet, no matter how far away she ran, she couldn’t escape what happened to her. While the rest of the world wanted Baylor to burn to the ground, she found herself sucked back into the vortex of the entire saga because of the details of her case. As it turns out, the monster that abused her became an eventual repeat offender and according to her friend, there was a paper trail in the immediate aftermath of the situation that would have brought the entire program down in a heap of misdeeds.
Yes, Baylor’s investigating firm Pepper Hamilton reached out to her for information on her situation, which I can personally verify after reviewing email exchanges that were turned over to Orangebloods. Meanwhile, a source close to the woman told us that the monster that abused her in Waco was now contacting her in her new state, threatening to harm her if she talked to anyone.
After years of running from her past, the past had caught up to her in a way that crashed her entire world and she had become suicidal. Suddenly, we were in a situation where our involvement in covering this story on a professional level was playing a part in her mental breakdown and it is one of the most haunting feelings I’ve ever experienced in my life. Nothing other than her well-being mattered when push came to shove and we just kind of backed off and let those better-prepared to handle such a complicated situation take over.
More than a year later, I have no idea if this woman is any closer to finding some sort of internal peace, but I rarely go more than a day or two before I’m reminded of her heartache. Even as I write this, my heart is breaking for her.
You’re damn right, this is personal for me and I will never deny it.
This is the story of just
one of the victims of the crime ring that existed under Briles. Just imagine for a minute all of the lives that have been altered or destroyed in the middle of all of this. Imagine all of the victims who only became victims because no one in an entire town or school thought so much as to ask a few questions when questions were warranted.
There was just too much inconvenience to the football team for anyone to care.
If we should have learned anything at all from what happened in Waco, it’s that we can’t ever ask enough questions when it comes to stories like this. One of the things Baylor counted on in the cover-up is that we would never care long enough to ever truly demand answers for what was happening behind the scenes.
The victims deserve more than that from us and if that proves to be an inconvenience to football-related thinking, well, too damn bad.
All of this brings us back to the hire of Horny, who was an top-level administration assistant to Briles and his coaching staff during the entirety of the rape scandal. When Phil Bennett was bragging to alums that a soon-to-be-convicted-of-rape pass rusher (Sam Ukwuachu) was going to be on the field in 2015 pending a pesky little rape trial, Horny was Bennett’s top aide.
I can’t tell you that Horny had any role in what transpired in Waco, but I know he was there for all of it and I know that he was all-in on discrediting anyone or anything that tried to shine light on the accountability that his former boss still needs to own to this day.
I can’t tell you whether Horny truly feels remorse for his public support of Briles, although those who know him believe that he most certainly does, but I can tell you that it’s a fact that he only took down those #Truthdontlie Tweets when there was a need to protect future employment.
We know there were other assistants under Briles that were involved in the scandal, but not so much as a single name outside of Briles has ever been given up by the school as it seeks to constantly protect conspirators more than it ever has protected the victims. That translated to evil remaining on the sidelines and behind the scenes for the school this season, despite whatever roles they might have played in what happened … because … well... because of football.
The lack of transparency from Horny’s old employer has put everyone in a position where the only accountability that is going to occur is the accountability that the public and media demand.
Only three schools (Texas, Arizona State and FIU) have dared to come within a 100-foot pole of anyone associated with the scandal and all three schools need to make large public statements about the vetting process that occurred that would allow bringing in anyone that was knee-deep in that scandalous window of time from start to finish. If one or two of the schools completely ignore the responsibilities they have to inform and protect the young women on their campuses, it shouldn’t be a license for the third to lower the bar for accountability.
No offense to anyone involved, but getting a vote of confidence from the liars in Waco that are giving out votes of confidence and protection to everyone on Briles’ staff (deserved or not) isn’t enough. If Horny has done nothing wrong and is worthy of us ignoring all the things we know, then just explain it to everyone as if it’s a matter that deserves to be discussed and not ignored.
For those that believe there’s nothing that Herman could say that to shelter his friend from the hungry wolves, well, just try us. Give us assurances. Explain the official position. Tell us why Horny is a guy for whom you’re willing to stand on the table.
In a moment like this when full transparency is needed, questions need to be asked and then they need to be answered. If comfort exists in making the hire, then it shouldn’t be difficult to discuss it, given the unique circumstances.
Texas needs to ask itself how the people in Waco would have handled the situation and then do the exact opposite.
It’s a matter of showcasing the school’s principles, rather than just talking about them.
Anything less that that, which doesn’t seem to be requesting too much if there’s nothing to hide, is just one more breach upon the souls of the victims whose lives were upended in Waco … a truth that should be personal to all of us that claim to care about what happened.
