Baylor Reportedly Won't Face Sweeping Sanctions from NCAA

Baylor University will reportedly avoid crippling sanctions like the ones that were levied against Penn State four years ago.

According to the Wall Street Journal's Brad Reagan (via NBC Sports' John Taylor), the NCAA "has notified Baylor that it won't exert its executive authority to impose sweeping sanctions against the school for broad institutional failings."

Rather, Reagan reported the NCAA "will instead follow its normal investigative process" after the school was embroiled in a sexual assault scandal. 

However, Reagan reported Baylor could face sanctions regarding impermissible benefits if the NCAA's investigation reveals that football players were given preferential treatment in cases where they were supposed to be disciplined. 

In July 2012, the NCAA hit Penn State with unprecedented sanctions stemming from the way the school handled the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. 

At the time, the NCAA vacated all of Penn State's wins from 1998-2011, fined the school $60 million, imposed a four-year postseason ban and trimmed scholarships from 25 to 15 a year over a four-year period. The school was also placed on probation for five years. 

The NCAA later reduced those sanctions—specifically as they related to scholarships and postseason play—before the punishments could run their course. 

As for Baylor, the school's board of regents fired head coach Art Briles in May following an investigation into the school's response to reports of alleged sexual assaults involving members of the football team. 

Specifically, the report "found specific failings within both the football program and Athletics department leadership, including a failure to identify and respond to a pattern of sexual violence by a football player and to a report of dating violence."

Former Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw and school president Ken Starr later resigned after details of the investigation were disclosed to the public. 

More recently, Reagan reported Baylor's board of regents "knew about an alleged incident and didn't alert police, the school's judicial-affairs staff or the Title IX office in charge of coordinating the school's response to sexual violence."

Former Baylor football players Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu have both been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison after they were separately convicted for sexually assaulting former students. 

Furthermore, former Baylor defensive lineman Shawn Oakman was indicted in July after he was accused of sexual assault by a graduate student.