Fort Worth's Star-Telegram reports that the NCAA has served notice of allegations against Baylor University, noting that former head coach Art Briles failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and that there also existed a "lack of institutional control" regarding a sexual assault scandal that has rocked the university for many months.
According to Fox 4 in Dallas, roughly 125 sexual assault cases reported to the school between 2011 and 2015 — many involving football players.
The NCAA opened its investigation in June 2017 and submitted its report to Baylor approximately three weeks ago, the Star-Telegram reports. The school has 90 days to respond. After Baylor issues its response, the NCAA has 60 days to reply.
The NCAA typically considers whether the university has taken steps to resolve the issue. Baylor has said it has put in more than 100 measures to update its Title IX compliance and modernize how it addresses sexual assault claims. Depending on whether Baylor agrees with the NCAA in its initial conclusion, the school could offer self-imposed penalties.
According to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, Baylor was advised to consider a one-year ban from postseason play for the football team for 2018, but Baylor officials vehemently deny a bowl ban has ever been considered.
Star-Telegram sources also indicate that while the NCAA is finished with its investigation, it could potentially include any information that emerges from depositions given by former Baylor officials in the Jane Doe Title IX case against the university. Those depositions include ones of former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw and former board member Phil Stewart, both of whom delivered testimony that indicated BU had dysfunctional leadership with conflicting agendas. Both men suggested the investigation of the school conducted by the law firm of Pepper Hamilton was not only insufficient, but it was also controlled by a few members of the board to deliver an outcome it wanted.
Multiple sources at Baylor said that during the school’s process of deciding whether to fire or maintain Briles in the the spring of 2016, several members of its board of regents wanted the school to find NCAA violations committed by the football program just to avoid paying Briles the bulk of his contract. Fired in May 2016, Briles agreed to a total compensation of nearly $18 million.
