Art Briles.Tom Pennington/Getty
Five months after Baylor University released the findings of an independent investigation into its handling of accusations of sexual assault, interviews the Wall Street Journal conducted with members of the school's board of regents uncovered more details.
Seventeen women have reported sexual or domestic assault involving 19 football players since 2011.
One regent referred to the alleged sexual assaults as "horrifying and painful," The Journal reported.
Pepper Hamilton, the law firm which conducted the investigation, previously released a 13-page report which painted a damning picture of culture that failed to hold the football team accountable, discouraged victims from filing complaints, and, on numerous occasions, neglected to remove victims from potentially dangerous situations with assailants.
Yet, specific details were sparse, resulting in outrage from Baylor alumni and critics.
Multiple regents revealed, however, that former head coach Art Briles allegedly knew of at least one reported incident of sexual assault of a student by a football player but failed notify the school.
"There was a cultural issue there that was putting winning football games above everything else, including our values," J. Cary Gray, a member of the Baylor board of regents, told the Journal. "We did not have a caring community when it came to these women who reported that they were assaulted. And that is not OK," he continued.
During Briles' time as the Baylor head coach, several members of the football team were accused, convicted, and charged with sexual-assault-related offenses. Two former Baylor players, Tevin Elliot and Sam Ukwuachu, have been convicted of rape, while several others have been accused.
Briles was fired in May. When confronted in a board meeting over what he would have done differently, he "broke down and wept," according to the Journal.
"He couldn’t speak he was so upset, and all of us were," Gray told the Journal. "Art said, 'I delegated down, and I know I shouldn't have. And I had a system where I was the last to know, and I should have been the first to know,'" he continued.
Baylor did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
