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Carlton: Who's even in charge at Baylor anymore?

Nothing quite illustrated Baylor’s current leadership situation more than interim president David Garland walking quickly past a Waco KCEN-TV film crew Tuesday.

Asked whether he was choosing not to talk or whether he was told not to talk about Monday’s regents meeting, Garland said: “Both.”

Awkward? You bet.

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Who is in charge at the scandal-plagued school? Most of the key people have been in their current job about five minutes and carry modifiers like "interim" or "acting." In that sort of power vacuum, a proposal can develop like the one to bring back football coach Art Briles after a one-year suspension.

The votes failed to materialize at the regents meeting Monday despite some high-profile backing, and the attempt has apparently ended, as first reported Wednesday by HornsDigest.com.

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While key Baylor donors may feel it was the right thing to bring Briles back from exile like Napoleon from Elba, the message sent to the world outside of Waco was far different.

People wondered how Baylor could contemplate a Briles reinstatement and if the school had learned any lessons whatsoever from the way it treated sexual assault victims.

A relative of one alleged sexual assault victim expressed disappointment to Fox Sports.

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"I'm surprised they haven't [shot it down] because it's a place in crisis mode, and they're trying to recover their image," the relative said. "But then again, I'm not really that surprised because obviously this type of thing has been their method of action all along."

Imagine how things would have played out had Briles actually been reinstated for 2017.

Baylor has enough concerns without self-inflicted damage. Three more women filed Title IX lawsuits against the school Wednesday. They probably won't be the last.

Settlement talks will begin soon with Briles, and when he gets 50 cents on the dollar or more from the $39 million or so left on his contract, that won’t play well, either.

Baylor’s strategy has been to say and reveal as little as possible -- with Exhibit A being the lack of a full Pepper Hamilton report. Leadership from someone is going to be necessary soon.

Baylor has almost as many regents as it has Pepper Hamilton recommendations to implement. Anybody want to step up?

Twitter: @ChuckCarltonDMN