[Goose]

You can't convince me that the Baylor boosters have sufficient money to influence the NCAA.  Baylor is such a regional school; if it weren't for Ann Richards, it wouldn't have even been included in the Big 12.  It's not really a top-tier research university as most of the flagship state university schools in the conference are.  It may be that the NCAA is afraid of setting precedent, only to find out in the next ten years that other schools are suffering from similar losses of institutional control.

Or maybe the NCAA is just spineless.

Well, I certainly don't want do disagree with the NCAA being spineless. Clearly it is. I know that I probably can't convince you  ;D. However, I think you greatly under-estimate the influence Baylor alums (and their money) can have, or more to the point, the damage they could cause. Baylor has spent cal-like sums on their stadium. It used to be nothing. After the death penalty, it would be again. Imagine the lawsuits that that the alums would generate regarding how damaging it was to the school, and questioning the NCAA's procedures, their monopolistic practices, etc. And since they are "insular", they would mean every bit of it. While it may be true that Baylor was an asterisk in the Big-12 years ago, it isn't now. I don't think that a spineless NCAA wants to be on the wrong side of them if it can be avoided. And it can be avoided by just pretending it never happened, as the NCAA pretty much has continued to do. Furthermore, I am pretty sure the NCAA doesn't care a lick about the quality (or lack thereof) of the research at Baylor ;D.

[Goose]

You can't convince me that the Baylor boosters have sufficient money to influence the NCAA.  Baylor is such a regional school; if it weren't for Ann Richards, it wouldn't have even been included in the Big 12.  It's not really a top-tier research university as most of the flagship state university schools in the conference are.  It may be that the NCAA is afraid of setting precedent, only to find out in the next ten years that other schools are suffering from similar losses of institutional control.

Or maybe the NCAA is just spineless.

Well, I certainly don't want do disagree with the NCAA being spineless. Clearly it is. I know that I probably can't convince you  ;D. However, I think you greatly under-estimate the influence Baylor alums (and their money) can have, or more to the point, the damage they could cause. Baylor has spent cal-like sums on their stadium. It used to be nothing. After the death penalty, it would be again. Imagine the lawsuits that that the alums would generate regarding how damaging it was to the school, and questioning the NCAA's procedures, their monopolistic practices, etc. And since they are "insular", they would mean every bit of it. While it may be true that Baylor was an asterisk in the Big-12 years ago, it isn't now. I don't think that a spineless NCAA wants to be on the wrong side of them if it can be avoided. And it can be avoided by just pretending it never happened, as the NCAA pretty much has continued to do. Furthermore, I am pretty sure the NCAA doesn't care a lick about the quality (or lack thereof) of the research at Baylor ;D.