Someone Finally Hit That Restart Button For Baylor

Jim Grobe coached football at a couple of universities not known to be powerhouses – Ohio (not Ohio State) and Wake Forest. Now he’s at a school with more problems than talent, and Baylor University has plenty of talent.

Grobe has agreed to be Baylor’s interim coach after the dismissal last week of Art Briles in the wake of a scathing report about the school’s institutional failures in dealing with sexual assaults and misconduct. The shock waves have also cost the university president a demotion and the athletic director resigned.

Grobe won at Wake Forest without the greatest array of talent. In 13 seasons at a perennial Atlantic Coast Conference doormat and the smallest school in the Power 5 conference, he had five winning records (three in a row) and led the Demon Deacons to four bowl appearances and an ACC championship game that put the school in the Orange Bowl.

At Wake Forest, it could be difficult to recruit. At Baylor, he has to now win over the players – some are threatening to transfer – and also recruits who are withdrawing their commitments to the Waco, Texas school.
Grobe, 64, was known for doing a lot with a little, though his last five seasons at Wake were mediocre in terms of record. Now he may have a lot more to work with– or may not – but he’ll have to start a healing process in a glaring media spotlight.

He’s known as a decent, well-meaning coach who tolerates little nonsense. He had an offer from Baylor in 2001. And while Baylor looked the other way as its football players ran wild under Briles, Grobe was known for benching his best player for a quarter because he had missed a class.

There’s a place for decency. Baylor knew it once. Maybe it will again.

Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman