Three Baylor football players were suspended from the team over sexual assault allegations made in November -- allegations that allegedly involved members of the university's equestrian team, according to a new ESPN report.
Baylor Head Football Coach Matt Rhule held a news conference Wednesday afternoon, where he confirmed a total of four players would not participate in spring practice, though ESPN reported only three of them were connected to the assault allegations. And, Rhule did not specify which players were which.
The suspension announcement came a day after Rhule confirmed to Channel 6 that players had been "separated" from the team in response to those accusations.
Rhule said he had met with campus and police investigators about the sexual assault case.
“I can’t get into too many of the details on this specific incident,” Rhule said. “I really don’t know too many of the details on this specific incident, but I do know things have been handled the right way.”
According to Rhule, Baylor’s football program has spent the last year trying to educate its players about proper behavior off the field – even sending out text messages to the student athletes on the weekends. Rhule said he did not believe the culture was bad at Baylor and significant improvements had been made.
"There's a bad culture when kids do bad things and grown ups hide them. And, nobody is hiding anything here," Rhule said during Wednesday's press conference.
In 2017, Baylor announced it had fully implemented the 105 recommendations made by outside law firm Pepper Hamilton in the wake of the university’s sexual assault scandal. On Tuesday, Rhule confirmed Title IX training and mandatory online training were now parts of his program. And, he praised the progress Baylor has made.
“I feel like the university put those processes in place, and it’s our job to carry them out,” Rhule said. “And, from what I’ve seen, the university has carried them out and everything has been done in a way that it should be done.”
The McLennan County District Attorney’s Office said nothing had yet been presented to a grand jury and, per protocol, offered no comment about the status of any investigation into the matter.
Through a law firm representing Baylor, Channel 6 obtained a highly-redacted police report that confirmed the Baylor University Police Department took a sexual assault report at the University Parks Apartments in November. However, the report offered no other answers about what allegedly happened.
Baylor President Linda Livingstone released the below statement Tuesday evening via a university spokesperson.
"Baylor University takes any allegation of sexual assault seriously. The University’s new leadership team is unwavering in our commitment to follow our well-documented Title IX policy and procedures in regards to reporting and responding to incidents of sexual assault. The responsibility of responding to alleged incidents of sexual violence does not rest solely in the hands of any specific individual or unit. It is a University response dictated by our Title IX policy. Baylor University remains committed to providing for the safety and security of our campus community.”