Baylor AD Says There Was No Drug Testing Program When He Arrived at School

Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades said Tuesday there was no internal drug-testing system in place for student-athletes at the school when he was hired last year.

In an appearance on 1660-AM in Waco, Texas (h/t Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News), Rhoades said the following regarding the changes he made upon arriving: 

"When I got to Baylor, we did not test. We did not have any robust program. We implemented it. It was one of the 105 Pepper Hamilton recommendations. Now I can tell you this: that we would have implemented a policy whether or not that was a recommendation. I think that's something that's really important."

Per Carlton, an internal investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm discovered there was no testing aside from that implemented by the NCAA and the Big 12.

He added ESPN's Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach wrote in the upcoming book, Violated, that the lack of drug testing was due to fear of players getting dismissed because of Baylor's policy against marijuana use.

Rhoades discussed the importance of now having a policy in place to act as a deterrent:

"We need to do a great job of educating our young people in terms of the dangers of substance abuse and do everything we can that they understand that and know that and also provide them the opportunity for help. But at the same time, if it's something they're going to do, there will be consequences and we'll hold people accountable for that."

The 51-year-old Rhoades previously served as the AD at Akron, Houston and Missouri.

He was hired by Baylor in 2016 after former athletic director Ian McCaw resigned in the midst of a sexual assault scandal involving the football team.