Baylor moving forward with Grobe
DALLAS - In comparison to Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby’s underwhelming response to Monday’s questions surrounding Baylor, Jim Grobe, the Bears' interim head coach, may have left the press conference stage feeling like he represented himself and the program pretty well.
Grobe spoke long and slow - presumably in part because of his self-described ‘West Virginia hillbilly’ upbringing, but also perhaps to keep questions to a minimum. Nonetheless, he maintained a confident face when discussing the job he is tasked with this season, as he must try to maintain some level of success while beginning to re-establish a degree of public trust in the institution.
“I'm probably more excited than any coach in America to get the season started,” he said. “We've got a great, great group of kids, I’ve been impressed with our coaching staff and the way they have handled themselves in this adversity.”
Whether Grobe truly believes all of that takes a backseat to him selling the fact that he does believe it. From the outside looking in, it may be a bit surprising to hear that a big part of Grobe’s plans to establish change revolve around keeping as many things the same as he can.
From a team organization and on-field perspective, the new coach wants to see Baylor keep as much familiarity as possible. He was quick to announce after his hire that he’d retain all of the assistant coaches, and while that might have proven a divisive decision, he went full-tilt with his endorsements of school and staff.
“We don't have a culture of bad behavior at Baylor University,” he said. “When I got here nobody told me about assistant coaches' misbehavior. If our assistant coaches' conduct had been bad… if anybody can come to me and point out that the coaches have not behaved properly, then I would have no problems making changes.”
Grobe’s expectation for wins and losses is likely secondary to the broader task of instilling a sense of normalcy with the program. For the players left in the aftermath, getting back to focusing on winning football games is part of that process.
“Personally, I was heartbroken,” Baylor senior offensive lineman Kyle Fuller said. “I was very surprised. I wasn’t aware of a lot of the things that were going on and I didn’t know how to exactly react to it. At the end of the day, though, we have to move forward and I’m just excited to get to this season.”
Baylor figures to return just about half of its starters from last season, but at least Grobe knows what’s available to him on the current roster. What has yet to be determined is if any consequences will affect recruiting in a more tangible fashion than just a damaged reputation.
The program granted releases to five players that signed Letters of Intent in 2016. And after Baylor cut ties with Art Briles, all but one commitment in 2017 decommitted. Scholarship reduction is a common disciplinary action, but while that isn’t likely to impact the number of players taken in this class, there will no doubt be a drop-off in the caliber of players relative to what was once expected.
“I think one of our biggest challenges playing this season and going forward is numbers,” Grobe said. “I think there were probably four (decommitments) that were difference-maker-type kids in this class and we're really disappointed to lose them.”
Grobe estimated that he probably has 70 scholarship players on the roster and guessed that with walk-ons, Baylor would start training camp with about 100 total players. Getting the most out of that group -- particularly early in the season -- will be critical while trying to restock an empty pantry devoid of incoming players at the moment.
“I think going forward we should hit a home run with this next recruiting class,” he said. “The nice thing for kids coming in next year is when they come in they know they're going to have a chance to play in a hurry.”
