On Thursday, Jessica Luther and Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly delved into a number of details surrounding Baylor's allegedly mishandled investigation of defensive end Sam Ukwuachu's sexual assault case.
Per the report, "Ukwuachu was indicted on June 25, 2014, on two counts of sexual assault against a female Baylor student athlete, and for the next year, the legal process played out without mention of Ukwuachu's felony charge by the press or from school officials, even though it was all in the public record."
Luther and Solomon noted that defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said in early June he expected Ukwuachu to finally take the field after missing the 2014 season with Baylor for unspecified reasons.
"No one questioned Bennett's assertion that Ukwuachu was expected to play—even though Ukwuachu was due to stand trial in Waco for sexual assault in just a few weeks and, if convicted, could spend up to 20 years in prison," Luther and Solomon wrote.
Ukwuachu transferred to Baylor from Boise State in 2013 after he was kicked off the Broncos for a "previous incident of violence involving a female student," according to Luther and Solomon.
Luther and Solomon added the following:
Ukwuachu claimed after the transfer was announced that Baylor's coaches "knew everything" about what happened in Idaho; and, as indicated by court documents obtained by Texas Monthly, the two programs had some communication regarding Ukwuachu in which Boise State officials expressed reticence about supporting the player’s efforts to get back on the field.
Baylor head coach Art Briles said there's no truth to the accusation that he was aware of Ukwuachu's prior issues, according to Max Olson of ESPN.com.
"I talked with [then-Boise State head coach] Chris Petersen personally. No mention of anything beyond Sam being depressed, needing to come home," Briles added, per Olson.
However, Peterson disputed that in a statement, via ESPN's Mark Schlabach on Aug. 21:
Mark Schlabach @Mark_SchlabachIn a statement to #ESPN, Washington's Chris Petersen said he told Baylor's Art Briles about Ukwuachu's violent past
Baylor issued a response after Ukwuachu's conviction, per Shehan Jeyarajah of the Dallas Morning News:
Shehan Jeyarajah @ShehanJeyarajahStatement from Baylor regarding the Sam Ukwuachu situation.
While the school did provide that statement, Luther and Solomon noted the following in their report:
The circumstances surrounding the school’s treatment of the allegations—from the nature of its disciplinary investigation and the fact that it characterized his indictment for sexual assault as “some issues” when explaining that he wouldn’t be on the active roster to start the 2014 season, to allowing him to continue doing conditioning work with the team after his indictment last June—suggest a school and a program that were, at best, very much in denial about the seriousness of the criminal charges he now faces.
The Texas Monthly report also said Baylor's investigation was "so insufficient, according to the court, that the judge sustained a motion from the prosecution to restrict the defense from referencing it during the trial."
Luther and Solomon also said the following: "We know that, when asked about Ukwuachu by the Waco Tribune-Herald after news of the charges finally broke—more than a year after the initial indictment—Baylor head coach Art Briles told reporters, 'I like the way we've handled it as a university, an athletic department and a football program.'"
Baylor reportedly did not discipline Ukwuachu while the charges were pending.
