To what do I owe this largess?

If I’m Art Briles, the Baylor football coach (though maybe not for much longer), that’s my first question when Chris Petersen, then at Boise State, tells me he’s got a Freshman All-American he wants me to take off his hands.

The supposed answer that Sam Ukwuachu was "depressed" should’ve gotten Briles wondering why. WHY was a promising football star "depressed?" After asking that of Petersen — regardless of his answer — Briles should’ve dug around more before bringing Ukwuachu to his team.

After all, Briles said he and Baylor are thorough with ALL transfer situations. "We’re always going to make sure that a guy is worthy of that opportunity," he said Thursday.

So Briles either didn’t believe Petersen, or Petersen is lying when he said this Friday: "I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam’s disciplinary record and dismissal."

If Petersen is being truthful, it means he made it clear that Ukwuachu’s problems included beating his girlfriend.

It was May 2013 when Boise State dismissed Ukwuachu for breaking team rules. Two weeks later, Ukwuachu said he was transferring to Baylor.

So, we’re supposed to believe Briles, 59, who has been a college football coach since 2002, didn’t realize something serious had to be in play for such a good player to be kicked off a team?

Just five months later Ukwuachu got himself in trouble in Waco, resulting in last week’s conviction for sexual assault against a Baylor female student-athlete.

Maybe what happened, or didn’t happen, in the interim wasn’t a cover-up by Baylor; the Bears kept Ukwuachu on the bench even when he was eligible to play in 2014 after he’d sat out his transfer year in 2013.

But the private university was far from transparent. And in one of the sad saga’s most despicable aspects, the victim was forced to adjust her schedule to avoid contact with Ukwuachu, not the other way around. She ended up transferring.

There’s nothing to like about this scandal. At least this time it’s a Power Five conference team taking the refuse of a program from a less prominent conference. But the big-picture result is just as ugly either way.

The he-said, he-said of Briles and Petersen doesn’t matter as much as some people are making it out to. It’s on Briles regardless.

There were more red flags than at a People’s Republic of China pep rally and Briles can’t be that naive. He knows he had to research it and make a determination if the guy is likely to repeat or escalate his bad behavior.

But it’s too easy to go through the motions and then cross your fingers, maybe try to leave yourself what you think might be a level of plausible deniability.

Not every dicey transfer goes awry; the University of Hawaii has been fortunate in that regard. But it is just that — good fortune — because you never really know for sure.

Second chances are part of what life is all about. But as this disaster shows, the coach must do his homework thoroughly to determine the risk … or he might become the one in need of reprieve.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.