Baylor Avoids NCAA Punishment for Sexual Assault Scandal!

Waco Texas Baylor University just got a slap on the wrists when it comes to the sexual assault scandal.

CelebnSports247.com reports the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions could not conclude that Baylor violated NCAA rules when it failed to report allegations of sexual and interpersonal violence on its campus.

However, during its investigation, the NCAA found other impermissible benefits and recruiting violations that occurred between 2011-16 at Baylor for which it has decided to penalize the Bears.

The infractions panel said in its decision:

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.

‘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.

The NCAA found that a Baylor football student-athlete who committed an academic violation was not reported for failing to meet an academic performance plan. The university also operated a predominantly female student host program that did not align with NCAA recruiting rules. Finally, a former assistant director of football operations (Odell James) did not meet his obligation to cooperate and violated ethical conduct rules when he did not participate in the investigation.

As a result, the NCAA levied the following punishments for Baylor:

• 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.
• A five-year show-cause order for the former assistant director of football operations. During that period, any NCAA member school employing him must restrict him from any athletically related duties unless it shows cause why the restrictions should not apply.
• A vacation of all records in which student-athletes competed while ineligible. The university must provide a written report containing the contests impacted to the NCAA media coordination and statistics staff within 14 days of the public release of the decision.

Baylor was in its ninth month of waiting since its hearing before the NCAA Committee on Infractions. Typically, cases are supposed to be decided 6-8 weeks after hearings. Baylor officials had become increasingly frustrated at the length of the case which had reached almost 34 months since the school was served with a notice of allegations in October 2018.

Included among those allegations was a lack of institutional control charge for Baylor as coach Art Briles was charged with failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance. The case against Briles centered around whether he played or practiced players who hadn’t gone through the school’s adjudication process after being accused of wrongdoing. However, Briles did not face any penalties in the committee’s decision. – via CBSSports