Ken Starr came to Baylor University on June 1 thinking his address book, laden with high- powered contacts, would come in handy for fundraising.

They are contacts far and wide, the result of years as a clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, as a lawyer, a federal judge, U.S. Solicitor General, independent counsel and law school dean.

His first day on the job as the school’s 14th president, he named fundraising as chief among his initial priorities.

Baylor president Ken Starr meets with faculty and students during an ice cream social.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Now, a week and a half later, he finds himself faced with a task more monumental than reaching Baylor’s goal of a $2 billion endowment — leading the charge to keep the Texas colleges in the Big 12 together.

The conference appears on the verge of collapse after a week that saw the departure of Colorado and Nebraska, with Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State reportedly to follow.

That would leave Baylor without a place in a major conference.

The pages of Starr’s Rolodex are getting some early wear and tear as he reaches out to enlist politicians and power brokers, locally and nationally, to get behind Baylor’s cause.

“The entire Baylor family is a vast family, and I am the newest member of the family,” Starr said at a Friday press conference.

“And, happily, I do have telephone numbers. And I am using my telephone to reach out to decision-makers and opinion shapers to say, ‘This is such a fabulous, wonderful, successful conference. We should all be working to preserve it as fully as possible.’ ”

Making the case

Starr and Ian McCaw, Baylor’s director of athletics, publicly stated Friday that splitting Baylor from the other three Texas schools would be harmful to the state.

McCaw pointed to a report by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman that estimated a hit to Texas’ economy totaling $714 million annually, along with the loss of almost 5,800 jobs if Baylor is separated from the other schools.

Starr also indicated the school is counting on state legislators to carefully analyze the benefits of keeping the schools aligned in the same conference and the potential costs of allowing them to part.

“We think this is a vitally important policy question for the state of Texas,” said Starr, who did not respond to interview requests from the Tribune-Herald . “This is the future of college athletics in a number of very venerable institutions in the state of Texas.

“The entire nation is watching to see whether there is, in fact, a focusing upon the vitally important questions that have been raised, including by Congressman (Chet) Edwards in his letter yesterday.

“Vitally important questions have been raised by Sen. (Chuck) Grassley and Sen. (Tom) Harkin of Iowa,” he said.

Iowa State is one of the Big 12 schools, along with Baylor, that could be left in limbo if the conference falls apart.

Tax-exemption debate

A congressional staffer told the Tribune-Herald that Grassley could be interested in examining the tax-exempt status of the athletic departments of schools realigning with so-called superconferences, such as what the Pac-10 would become if Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech follow Colorado west.

But in a phone interview Thursday, U.S. Rep. Edwards, D-Waco, expressed pessimism about the chances of success for legislation on federal tax breaks for Texas’ state schools.

“The question would be whether Sens. (John) Cornyn or (Kay Bailey) Hutchison would support a bill to take away the tax-exempt status of Texas, Texas Tech (and) A&M,” Edwards said.

Grassley’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

With the threat of federal legislation essentially out of the picture, Starr and Baylor have set their sights on Texas’ politicians, asking them to take a hard look at the pros and cons of the realignment.

Former Texas House Speaker Pete Laney, who was instrumental in the Big 8 Conference’s transformation into the Big 12 in the mid-1990s, said he doesn’t personally know Starr.

But he said Starr and Baylor’s tactic of enlisting politicians on the school’s behalf can be effective, as it was when the late Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock insisted on Baylor’s inclusion in the Big 12 in 1994.

Laney said he doesn’t think the Legislature would enact a bill requiring the state colleges to remain with Baylor.

But, he said, “The members of the legislature have different ways of expressing their displeasure. So, say some senator is not happy with the way things come out. It could affect the confirmation proceedings of, say, a selection for a certain board of regents.”

Praise for leadership

Baylor regent Chairman Dary Stone praised Starr’s ability to lead in a time like this, taking note of Starr’s connections, but said his value to Baylor far surpasses a list of names and phone numbers.

“Putting what Judge Starr is in a bucket, as far as what’s an asset that’s helpful to Baylor, it’s not (just being) politically savvy,” Stone said.

“What makes him so valuable to Baylor is he has national respect and he’s incredibly smart, so immediately he connects well with the presidents at all these universities.”

Baylor University President Ken Starr (center) and Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw talk last week at a NCAA regional game at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Hurried manner

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, said he was contacted by Baylor regent Neal T. “Buddy” Jones, an Austin lobbyist. Dunnam pointed to a number of hurdles Baylor is facing, including the hurried manner in which decisions are being made.

Dunnam said he knows legislators have been working on Baylor’s behalf. But he expressed disappointment in the state’s top leaders, though he said he understood why even someone with Starr’s credentials would have difficulty bringing them on board.

“I think the governor’s ability to act like he’s not part of this is a problem,” Dunnam said. “All of the regents (at the state colleges) have been appointed by him. The total lack of leadership from state officials is, in effect, condoning all this and blessing it.”

Starr was a bit more diplomatic when addressing the silence and apparent inaction of Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus on Friday.

“Well, we welcome the careful analysis of our elected public officials,” Starr said at Friday’s news conference. “There are myriad questions that merit analysis and answering before a major disruption to this wonderful conference is effected.”

Later Friday, Straus called for a meeting of the House Higher Education Committee set for Wednesday to discuss college athletics.

Too late?

That meeting may come too late for Baylor, though, as Texas and Texas Tech’s regents are meeting Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon, respectively.

Dunnam lamented Starr’s baptism by fire and said his impression is that Starr and Baylor have worked hard to make their case for inclusion among the other Texas Big 12 colleges.

Dunnam did note that he thinks “everyone should have recognized that once the (Big 12) contracts came close to termination, there was going to be some effort for realignment,” so perhaps Baylor’s effort should have begun before Starr arrived.

“But Starr, coming from California and walking in and first day on the job, he’s got this — I don’t know what you’d expect him to do,” Dunnam said.

In the cards

Dunnam, who said he is firmly behind Baylor’s effort to remain tied to the other Texas schools, scoffed at the suggestion of an unnamed Big 12 official in an Austin American-Statesman report who said Baylor should be lobbying for support in California.

“When Colorado got their deal without anybody knowing about it, I think that die was (cast),” Dunnam said.

“They’re not going to take seven teams, so I really don’t know how you undo that. Clearly, in hindsight, UT has wanted to be with Stanford and that bunch for 20 years, for reasons I still don’t understand, and we knew realignment was going to come one day.”

Stone said Thursday he hopes decision-makers at the state colleges involved will take time in making their choices.

Any extra time Starr and Baylor officials have to present their case will help them realize the Big 12 should stay together, or Baylor move to a new conference with the other Texas schools, he said.

Starr hesitated Friday to predict how more time might affect the state schools’ decisions. But he recalled the words of America’s second president, John Adams, also a former lawyer.

“What I do know is John Adams famously stated, in trial, ‘Facts are flinty things,’ and there are a whole array of facts that we think cry out to be closely analyzed,” Starr said.

“And when those facts are analyzed — the entirety of the policy questions that affect the people of Texas, the fan base, of the economic welfare and, again, above all, the welfare of our student-athletes — I believe that the reasonable and best judgment would be to keep the Big 12, with 10 teams, intact.”

twoods@wacotrib.com

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