A murdered player, NCAA violations and an attempted cover-up of misdeeds by the head coach have raised questions about the future of the men’s basketball program at Baylor and whether the school needs to stay in the Big 12 Conference.

But even after a summer of scandal, it appears unlikely the Big 12’s smallest and only private school will leave the conference, either on its own or forced out by the league.

“Our commitment certainly is to remain in the Big 12,” Baylor President Robert Sloan Jr., said this week. “The answer is not to run away from problems but to face them. Very clearly, we face some problems.”

Baylor’s football and men’s basketball teams — typically the money makers of any athletic program — routinely finish at or near the bottom of the league. The football team has won four conference games in seven seasons. The Waco Tribune-Herald has reported the athletic program ran a deficit of $9.1 million last year.

While Baylor’s troubles have become a hot topic for Texas editorial pages, Internet message boards and radio talk shows, Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg said he had heard no rumblings of discontent from the league’s other members.

“We’ve received no calls from (members) suggesting Baylor should go,” Weiberg said. The only comments he’s heard have been “appropriately supportive” in hopes that Baylor can sort out its basketball problems.

Big 12 bylaws require nine members to vote to expel a school, something several school presidents have said was unlikely.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway said. “My personal feeling is they have a very tragic situation. I have great respect for President Sloan and his moral judgment and I’m sure that he will right the ship.”

Under even normal circumstances, leaving the Big 12 would be a difficult decision. For Baylor, this summer has been bizarre.

Ex-player Patrick Dennehy was found shot to death July 25, allegedly by former teammate Carlton Dotson, who sits in a Maryland jail awaiting extradition to Texas to face charges.

The investigation into Dennehy’s disappearance and death uncovered that Dave Bliss, who resigned as coach Aug. 8, had paid the tuition for Dennehy and another player, an NCAA violation. It also found that failed drug tests by players weren’t properly reported.

Then Bliss was caught last week trying to cover up the tuition payments with a plot to portray Dennehy as a drug dealer.