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Lineman receives 180 days in jail for raping woman
The case of Sam Ukwuachu raises broader questions of responsibility for university officials at Baylor and Boise State, who remained mostly silent about Ukwuachu’s past and the seriousness of the accusations.
The star football player came home to Texas. He was looking for a new start, but he never did play any football.
Instead Sam Ukwuachu, a 6’4”, 230-pound defensive end, formerly of the Pearland High School Oilers, only continued his deeply troubling conduct around women that had begun during his time at Boise State University. Convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow student at Baylor University and facing up to 20 years in prison, he was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail in state district court in Waco.
“You have now seen what this man is capable of,” prosecutor Hilary LaBorde told the jury, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald, which described the lineman sobbing and removing his glasses. Calling Ukwuachu a man of two faces, the prosecutor wiped away tears of her own for the victim, who “lost control of her body, lost control of her life.”
While the specter of football players charged with attacking women has become startlingly familiar, the case raises broader questions of responsibility for university officials at Baylor and Boise State. For more than a year, both schools kept nearly silent about Ukwuachu’s past and the seriousness of the accusations.
Even as the first extensive report on the case appeared this week in Texas Monthly, with the trial already underway, Baylor of-
ficials issued only a vague statement about values. By the time prosecutors were trading closing arguments in the courtroom, coaches of the two teams were trading accusations of who told what to whom and when about accusations of disturbing behavior at Boise State.
“It’s very troubling,” said Ann Skeet, an expert on collegiate sports ethics at Santa Clara University. “It happens when perspective is lost. And Baylor Bears seems to be like a religion, the way people think about (the team) and talk about it.”
Lost potential
As a college football player, Ukwuachu once posed great promise. Playing wide receiver in 2010, he helped lead his suburban high school to a 5A state championship at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.
Despite his relatively small size, he became a defensive end at Boise State. After sitting out his freshman year as a redshirt, he delivered four sacks and forced a fumble. Coach Chris Petersen called him “tough.”
During his time at Boise State, Texas Monthly reported, Ukwuachu drew the attention of university officials for putting his fist through a window and threatening a girlfriend’s roommate. He was dismissed for violations of team rules. At the time, Petersen told local reporters he was “just handling some personal stuff.”
In May 2013, Ukwuachu announced plans to return to Texas. Acknowledging his dismissal in an interview with a recruiting website, Ukwuachu said officials at Baylor “knew everything and were really supportive.”
To get him back on the field without waiting a season, Baylor needed a letter of support from Boise State. That request was denied, and Ukwuachu sat out the 2013 season.
After the 2013 Baylor homecoming game in Waco, Ukwuachu picked up a fellow student, an 18year old soccer player, according to court testimony. At his apartment, he raped her as she screamed and fought. “He was using all of his strength,” the student testified, “to pull up my dress and do stuff to me.”
Eight months later, a grand jury handed up an indictment on sexual assault charges. When Ukwuachu’s name failed to appear on the roster this summer, rumors spread online. But local reporters published little information about the criminal case, and Baylor offered less.
In its own investigation, Baylor cleared Ukwuachu of any wrongdoing. School officials spoke promisingly about his return to the field this season. As the case progressed, he earned a degree and enrolled in graduate courses. His victim transferred to another school.
‘Sat back and waited’
As the trial date drew near, Baylor Coach Art Briles told the Waco Tribune-Herald: “We’ve sat back and waited for it all to take shape and see what the outcome is. So I like the way we’ve handled it as a university, an athletic department and a football program.”
But as Ukwuachu finally faced his victim in court, university officials found themselves facing accusations of a cover-up. On Friday morning, Briles denied receiving any information about his recruit’s violent past from Boise State.
“No mention of anything beyond Sam being depressed and needing to come home,” he said. “So that was our information. And that’s what you go by.”
Within hours, Coach Petersen gave a sharply conflicting statement.
“After Sam Ukwuachu was dismissed from the Boise State football program and expressed an interest in transferring to Baylor, I initiated a call with coach Art Briles,” Petersen said. “In that conversation, I thoroughly apprised Coach Briles of the circumstances surrounding Sam’s disciplinary record and dismissal.”
Baylor issued another statement from Briles on Friday evening saying Peterson “did not disclose that there had been violence toward women.” Baylor also released a copy of Ukwuachu’s transfer
form from Boise State that stated he was not suspended or dismissed for disciplinary reasons and was eligible to return to the university.
Baylor president Ken Starr announced the school will undergo “a comprehensive internal inquiry” regarding its handling of the Ukwuachu situation.
Past scandal
In recent years, Baylor’s basketball and football programs have been winning more consistently and earning the university national attention. The onfield success had put greater distance from a school scandal in 2003, when Baylor men’s basketball coach Dave Bliss was forced to resign after making improper
tuition payments for players Patrick Dennehy and Corey Herring. Dennehy was murdered by teammate Carlton Dotson, and Bliss tried to cover up his rule-breaking by portraying Dennehy as a drug dealer.
Today, in the wake of the Ukwuachu conviction, Baylor officials face difficult questions about what they knew about Ukwuachu’s past, their handling of the rape allegation and whether their priorities are misplaced.
“Baylor obviously regards sports as significantly more important to the university than decency and respect for a human being’s right to control access to her body,” said Pe-