Right now, Waco Texas is the center of the college sports universe. Baylor University has produced the Heisman trophy winner in Robert Griffin III, the #1 women's basketball team, the #4 men's basketball team, the front runner for the Naismith player of the year (Brittney Griner), and the potential 200 meter champion (also Robert Griffin II). The green and gold seem to have it clicking on all cylinders. What's wrong with this picture?
Typically when a school comes out of nowhere and dominates on the national scene something illegal is going on. Baylor is far from the predominant school in Texas an its enrollment is a modest 15,000 students. Without state of the art facilities or a big name coach it's a little far fetched to believe the Baylor programs could persuade top athletes to come to Waco without a little extra incentive.
Baylor supporters will tell you the athletic department is innocent. No one has come out with any allegations of wrong doing and the school's top performers (Griner, Griffin III, and Quincy Acy) are all from the state of Texas. There's no rule that says the big schools get to hoard all the talent or that great players can't attend small schools. I'd be inclined to accept those arguments if it wasn't for the fact all the programs are dominating at the same time.
I'm a paranoid conspiracy theorist, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. History has shown us that this type of meteoric rise doesn't come without a price. Whether it's improper benefits, changing of test scores, or excessive endowments like the ones received by Oklahoma St. and Oregon something has to get the ball rolling. This is not an indictment on Baylor as a university, just the cold hard reality of big time college athletics. When you see one of the Baylor teams on probation a year from now don't be afraid to say I told you so.
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