Baylor football improved to 3-0 in the early going of the 2016 season under new head coach Jim Grobe. After the game, a former Bear was spotted in the team’s locker room, which drew some questions for the head coach of the Bears today. Shawn Oakman visited his former teammates to exchange a few words of encouragement, and it must have been difficult not to spot him considering his considerable size.
When asked about Oakman being allowed inside the Baylor locker room after the win against Rice, the head coach of the Bears denied having any knowledge of who he was.
Jim Grobe on Shawn Oakman being in the locker room after the game: "I don't know who Shawn Oakman is" #Baylor
— Jessica Morrey (@JessicaMorrey) September 19, 2016
I’m sorry, but that is just not an answer that should be allowed by the head coach fo the Baylor football program, even if he had no previous ties to Oakman. There is no possible way a head coach hired to regain control of the program and provide it with a level of respectability sorely needed through well-respected leadership can have absolutely zero clue who Oakman is.
Not when Oakman was indicted in a sexual assault case this past July the very next day after Grobe suggested there was not a culture problem to address at Baylor (which, by the way, is the exact reason he was even hired in the first place). Oakman was arrested on sexual assault charges in April, and this was not the first time Oakman had gotten into some legal trouble just since his arrival at Baylor.
Even if you do want to believe Grobe is so out-of-touch with his own program or want to believe he is among the most naive people in Waco and honestly does have no clue who Oakman is, then what is the excuse for anyone else tied to the Baylor program who would have been able to grant locker room access to Oakman? Somebody knew who he was, and somebody should have had the awareness to realize now is probably not a good time to be allowing him entrance to the team’s locker room.
If hiring Grobe was supposed to spin the PR around Baylor in a positive direction, that mission is failing spectacularly.