Baylor football did not receive any major penalties from a more than five-year NCAA investigation into the sexual violence and assault that occurred during the Art Briles era.
The Committee on Infractions said it was limited by current NCAA rules on what constitutes violations by individual schools.
“Baylor admitted to moral and ethical failings in its handling of sexual and interpersonal violence on campus but argued those failings, however egregious, did not constitute violations of NCAA rules. Ultimately, and with tremendous reluctance, this panel agrees,” the panel said in its decision.
“To arrive at a different outcome would require the [committee] to ignore the rules the Association’s membership has adopted — rules under which the [committee] is required to adjudicate. Such an outcome would be antithetical to the integrity of the infractions process.”
Baylor had faced Level I violations including lack of institutional control and a failure to promote an atmosphere of compliance.
The committee did find less severe Level II violation.
Impermissible benefits were provided to a football student-athlete who was not reported for failing to meet an academic performance plan following an academic violation. Also Baylor operated a predominantly female student-host program that did not align with NCAA recruiting rules.
Given the profile and duration of the investigation, the penalties were remarkably light:
— Four years of probation.
— A $5,000 fine.
— A reduction to 30 football official visits during the 2021-22 academic year.
— A three-week ban on unofficial visits in football during the 2021-22 academic year.
— A two-week ban on football recruiting communication during the 2021-22 academic year.
— A reduction of football evaluation days by three during fall 2021 and by 10 during spring 2022.
— Former assistant director of football operations Odell James received a five-year show case order.
Baylor released a statement on the NCAA findings.
“As part of the NCAA process, the university acknowledged its significant and moral failings related to sexual and interpersonal violence, and we sincerely regret the actions of a few individuals caused harm to so many,” statement read in part. “We must remember that the prospect of NCAA penalties pales in comparison to the suffering of the survivors of such horrific assaults.”
The school also noted the changes at the school in athletics since 2016. Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, brought in after the scandal broke, has made more than 100 new hires in the athletic department.
Briles did not receive penalties.
After leading a remarkable turnaround in the football program including two Big 12 titles, he was fired May 26, 2016. The report also brought down school president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw resigned. He is now AD at Liberty University.
Briles, who was viewed as toxic after the report, resurfaced as the coach of a pro team in Florence, Italy, and then Mount Vernon High School in east Texas. He coached two seasons in Mount Vernon, going 20-6 and resigned after the 2020 season.
The impetus for the Briles firing was a Baylor-funded investigation and report by the Philadelphia law firm of Pepper Hamilton, which found numerous problems with the way the university, the athletic department and football program handled sexual assault and violence.
Baylor regents later told the Wall Street Journal in 2016 that the investigation involved 17 women who reported sexual or domestic assaults involving 19 players since 2011. Four of those incidents were allegedly gang rapes.
