Antonia Rodriguez

During this past holiday season, I found myself travelling for the first time without my family. Check in to the airline, check my bag, go through security, and find your gate. At my gate, I sat in an open seat next to a stranger—the only open seat left in view of a television playing a college football game. As I watched the game, also checked my phone for scores and updates on other games being played.

“Do you go to Baylor?”

I looked at the middle-aged man sitting next to me and smiled.

“Yes,” I said proudly and pointed at the Baylor hoodie I was wearing. “Does this give it away?” We both chuckled and he nodded his head towards the football game on the television.

“This was a tough season for y’all,” he said as he watched the game.

He didn’t phrase it as a question. The only indication I had that he was waiting for my response was a slight raise of his voice at the end of his statement.

The Baylor Bears football team has seldom been out of the headlines for the past 2 years. The events that took place during the 2015-2016 football season are still being dredged up in almost every conversation I have when asked about college. Unfortunately, they will always follow us around. No matter what we might accomplish, those accomplishments will always be “in light of” or “despite” what happened.

I was a freshman at Baylor during that infamous season.

As a female attending college before, during, and after the scandal broke about the events that took place, and all the cover up/complacency that transpired to keep it hush-hush, I find that many people tend to ask my opinion the most.

Before the scandal, I loved Baylor. During the scandal, I loved Baylor. After the scandal, I still love Baylor.

Yes, bad things, incorrigible things, occurred. The people responsible for those things, and responsible for allowing those things to be swept under the rug are no longer with our program. Transparency from the Board of Regents is still being sought and there are better processes in place now to make sure these situations never happen again.

With all the terminations/resignations, including the head coach, athletic director, and university president, many football players announced their intentions to transfer. Whatever their reasoning, whether they didn’t want to deal with the drama of the scandal, be associated with that Baylor Football team, or any other reason, I hold no ill-will towards any of them. They did what they deemed right for themselves and, although they could have took that opportunity to help rebuild the program instead of leaving, I wish them well in all their endeavors.

Six of the then-seven members of the 2017 recruiting class decommitted as well, leaving just one.

The 2016-2017 football season was shrouded in all of the drama that came with more and more facts about the scandal coming to light. Interim coach Jim Grobe did what he was hired to do. We won six games, allowing us to become bowl eligible, and later won the Cactus Bowl. He did what he was contracted to do, literally. That season, we won our six first games and then went on to lose the last six of the regular season.

On December 6^th, 2016, Baylor hired Coach Matt Rhule. I had no idea who this guy was or where we pulled him out from so I did my research. I watched press conference after press conference and numerous interviews just to gauge his personality. I quickly found myself impressed and intrigued. I remember thinking, “This coach might be just what we need.” His main message: Trust the Process.

Now, for most people, this past season was not what they were expecting nor what they wanted coming off a bowl win. In the broadest sense,, the 2017-2018 Baylor Bears went 1-11 this year with a plethora of injuries. We only won a single game and multiple players sustained serious injuries. This was supposed to be our comeback year and, to a lot of people, it fell short. A lot of people on campus were frustrated as well. Why aren’t we winning? We just can’t do anything right? It’s just football, it can’t be that hard. I choose not to think of our season this way. Instead, I look at a singular moment this season that showed me all the promise I had been desperately seeking since the scandal first broke.

On November 4^th 2017, we beat Kansas on the road. Yes, Kansas. Our only win this season, against an arguably worse team than us, proved everything to me. However, it wasn’t the physical winning of the game that filled me with hope.

It was the post-game speech Coach Rhule gave in the locker room. “No suits!” was the deafening chant by the team as he finished congratulating them on their then first (and only) win of the season. The team swapped their uncomfortable suits and ties for warm-ups on the flight back home. A small reward for a major victory.

And it was after the team got back to Waco. Jalen Pitre, the lone recruit that stayed committed to Baylor during and after the scandal, turned on the light of Pat Neff and illuminated the landmark in Baylor green. This long standing tradition has been a sign of any Baylor athletic victory for all passers by to see. A sign of a long awaited Baylor win appropriately given by a player that stayed through thick and thin.

We didn’t win another game and, as a fan, it was heartbreaking, but that one win, and what happened after, got people’s attention. We are still here.

After the first ever December National Signing Day, Baylor could possibly have a top 20 recruiting class for the 2018-2019 season. According to ESPN.com, we have 7 4-star commits and 15 3-star commits already. Players are seeing the potential and the impact they could have on this program. They are “Trusting the Process.”

When the middle-aged man looked at me again, I hoped he would see the pride on my face when I spoke.

“Yes it was,” I said. “But it was a building year. And next season we are going to be a force to be reckon with.”