I understand what ****Baylor is trying to do. They know that the FB program brings them millions of dollars each year not even calculating the value of the national exposure it gives them. And they reside in maybe the most college football crazy state in the nation, in addition to the dollars it is also about prestige at the country club and in the board room.
They are also trying to protect a bunch of members of the 'good ol' boy" club in and out of administration. These are not only rich and powerful men but they are also lifelong friends in some cases.
Baylor knows that they are much closer to being SMU or Rice than they are to being Notre Dame or Southern Cal. They have a long history of failure, they aren't sure that if they go away for a couple years they will ever be back.
Problem is that it is all simply a continuation of the same pattern that got them in this mess in the first place. Failing to recognize that young women were the victims of the football culture built and encouraged at Baylor with the consent if not approval coming from the very top. They are still looking at this thing not in terms of a rape problem but in terms of a football success problem. They still haven't shown any real will or desire to stop their players from running as will off the field as they do on it.
The effectiveness of self-enforcement declines in direct proportion to the seriousness of the problem, be it Miami, PSU, or Baylor. The NCAA has since SMU shown it is entirely unwilling to take real action against programs that have gross negligence in terms of institutional control. Cheat big, win big, take a slap on the wrist has proven to be the strategy that works.
I know that a lot of posters here say that the NCAA doesn't have any business involved in this but I completely disagree for a couple reasons.
One is that a fundamental element of NCAA membership requires institutional control and responsibility over athletic programs. In this case the failure to do so resulted in coeds getting raped, potentially including student athletes but that shouldn't matter. Sports are supposed to be a positive element of the college experience and to the extent possible the NCAA and it's institutions have an obligation to operate inside the law and for the good of the students.
Second reason is entirely more practical. The NCAA exist so colleges can regulate themselves to the greatest extent possible. When members like the three grossest offenders mentioned above do things like this it puts that autonomy at risk. We already have title IX forcing schools to close down multiple athletic programs and reducing scholarships for other formerly successful sports.
I can easily see some attention hungry congress member or members taking on college sports as a crusade with the end result being a much larger amount of governmental control and a lot of regulation that serves neither the athletes or the schools. And it would also likely result in a lot of unwelcome hands dipping into those tens of millions of dollars lots of schools bring in each year under the current system.
It is in the best interest of the NCAA to get their act together and prove that they can deal with this stuff so the government doesn't "have to."