Baylor Coach Matt Rhule Texts Players Constantly Reminding Them To Respect Women

New Baylor head football coach Matt Rhule has taken over a program that owns quite possibly the worst reputation in sports. With numerous allegations of rape out there against former players during Art Briles’ tenure, Rhule has the Herculean task of repairing the team’s reputation. To that end, he claims he’s constantly texting his players to remind them to respect women.

Yes, Rhule told ESPN’s Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach that on Thursday and Friday nights he repeatedly texts his players. From 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on those nights he sends them texts reminding them to respect women and behave themselves.

Baylor currently has seven Title IX lawsuits pending against it from Briles’ tenure.

I applaud Rhule’s intent here but the bigger question is, why does he have to do that? Maybe he should focus on recruiting players who already have those values. I get that he inherited most of the guys on his roster but, quite frankly, anyone who needs to be constantly reminded to respect women shouldn’t be playing college football. He should cut the kids who don’t already have those values and get them as far away from Baylor as possible.

Still, it’s clear Rhule cares about his program’s reputation, which is more than can be said for Briles. It’s hard to find fault with the guy for trying to ensure his team behaves. But the larger focus should be on dumping the kids who don’t adhere to those values.