Matt Rhule saying and doing all the right things at Baylor

WACO - The athletics center at Baylor looks the same as it has for the last few years. The lobby is decorated with various trophies, green and gold murals, accolades for the different sports teams on display.

Student-athletes pop in and out on the first Friday of the spring semester, fist-bumping each other, saying hello to coaches, walking to and from their offices.

Everything looks normal.

But it feels different.

When new football coach Matt Rhule walks into the room, there's positivity in a place that needed a heavy dose of it.

The last several months haven't been easy on the school's athletic department, fresh off a sexual assault scandal that rocked the football program.

Baylor was featured over and over again in news cycles as more and more rape allegations and Title IX failures surfaced throughout the fall. The Bears made (negative) headlines for showing support of fired coach Art Briles.

The football team finished the season with six straight regular-season losses.

When the season ended, the school parted ways with interim coach Jim Grobe and finally let go of the rest of Briles' staff.

By that time, basketball had heated up and the men's and women's teams at Baylor were playing well, winning, bringing good news to the school.

Then came Rhule - someone from outside the Baylor bubble.

And so far Rhule is steering the ship in the right direction.

'Walk a mile in her shoes'

The former Temple coach didn't have ties to Baylor or to the state for that matter. And he had other options, places that weren't marred by scandal.

Baylor had lost all but one recruit. Several players had transferred. Pending lawsuits linger and more victims could still come forward.

He knew taking over the program at Baylor would be challenging.

But he felt it was the right move for him.

"I had concerns," Rhule said. "You look at it and you have to ask yourself about the problem. Is it still there? Is it systemic? Can I help fix the problem? Will I have the freedom to do what I think needs to be done? Then you think what is the aftereffect on people? Will they be jaded? Will they be against football?

"I looked at all that, took a leap of faith, and I felt like I was well-equipped to take this on because of what I believe in. I knew it wouldn't be easy. But I also had tremendous confidence that this was the right place for me."

Rhule is candid about what he faces at Baylor.

Recruits and their families have voiced concerns ranging anywhere from if the NCAA would hand down sanctions to what the climate and culture at the school is currently.

"They've asked how those things happened here," he said. "I don't always have an answer to that, but I can tell them what I think about the guys who are here and about what I think and believe in."

Rhule has strong opinions on sexual assault and gender violence.

He speaks about it differently than a lot of other coaches have. He's candid and open.

He doesn't just say it's wrong, he presents ideas on how to change a culture not just at Baylor, but everywhere.

At Temple, he had 120 football players participate in "walk a mile in her shoes," where they walked in high heels to bring awareness to domestic violence. He brought in speakers, he spoke himself. He even showed a scene from a romantic comedy where the two main characters had too much to drink and woke up next to each other the next day.

"That's sexual assault," he said. "Society is so blinded to it even showing up in pop culture."

On the right road

Rhule takes Title IX seriously, knows the federal laws, can cite specific acts and cases from over the years. One of the first things he did at Baylor was take its Title IX training. He found it to be thorough - and he was paying attention to make sure it was.

He knows all the policies for being a mandatory reporter to the Title IX office when he is made aware of any domestic or sexual violence. He can recite the Big 12's and Baylor's practices for incidents.

All of that is really good.

But what is better is that he plans to have conversations with his players regularly.

"You can't just bring in a speaker once a year and be done with it," Rhule said. "You have to keep trying to make things better every day. This is the No. 1 issue on college campuses everywhere."

Rhule wants to succeed on the football field - as any good, competitive coach would. But he sees his role in leading a program as more. He sees an opportunity to help make change.

"I know as football coaches we are held to a higher standard," Rhule said. "There's ways to use this platform in a way that can help this problem. We want to encourage more men to get involved. We - as men, women, as people - can help make campuses safer."

Rhule has obviously spent time thinking about these issues and how he can do his part to change the culture at Baylor.

It won't happen overnight, but Rhule is on the right road.

Things are getting better at Baylor.