NCAA Out Baylor Probation

The NCAA put Baylor on three years of probation Wednesday after an investigation turned up hundreds of impermissible telephone calls and text messages sent to prep recruits by coaches and assistants on the basketball teams.

The violations were considered to be major infractions, and they were announced less than a week after the Lady Bears won the national championship with the first 40-0 season in NCAA history.

Still, it could have been much worse for Baylor. All of the penalties were proposed by the school and accepted by the NCAA after a review of nearly 900,000 phone and text message records found that 738 texts and 528 calls were against the rules.

The NCAA said men's coach Scott Drew failed to monitor his program and will be suspended for two Big 12 games next season, in addition to recruiting restrictions. Women's coach Kim Mulkey also received recruiting restrictions.

"I believe strongly in following NCAA rules and will always try to do so in the future," Mulkey said in a statement released by the school. "I do nothing without permission from our compliance office and will continue to ask questions to assure that things are done right. Any compliance-related mistakes, even those that are secondary, are disappointing. The majority of mistakes in this matter were errors in sending text messages and failure to accurately document our phone calls."

Men's assistant coaches Paul Mills and Jerome Tang also were named in the report along with women's assistant coach Damion McKinney.

Among the self-imposed penalties:

• Mulkey -- whose 2011-12 squad went 40-0 and won the NCAA title -- will be prohibited from recruiting off campus for the entire summer recruiting period (July 1-31).

• The women's basketball program lost two of its 15 scholarships in 2011-12.

• McKinney hasn't been allowed to make recruiting calls to prospective student-athletes since Jan. 1. The ban will be lifted on May 1.

• The men's program lost one scholarship for both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons.

• Drew will be suspended for the first two Big 12 games of the season.

• Drew and Tang were prohibited from making recruiting calls from Jan. 1 to Feb. 29 of this year.

• The maximum number of official visits allowed to the men's basketball team in 2012-13 was reduced from 12 to seven.

Baylor will have no more additional penalties other than those it self-imposed.

The report put a bit of a damper on what has been an extraordinary run of success for Baylor athletics.

Besides Baylor's win over Notre Dame for the women's title, Drew's team won a school-record 30 games and reached the NCAA regional finals, where the Bears lost to eventual national champion Kentucky. And all that came after star quarterback Robert Griffin III became the school's first Heisman Trophy winner following a football season that included 10 wins for the first time since 1980.

Mulkey was named the AP's national coach of the year and junior Brittney Griner was its player of the year. How Baylor recruited Griner, one of the most dominant women's players in college basketball history, was part of the NCAA probe.

A school report obtained by ESPN.com said Mulkey and her staff committed minor NCAA violations for having impermissible contact with Griner and her family. During a 2007 camp, coaches spoke with the Griners about the basketball program, academic requirements and the school in general both before and after the camp.

Mulkey also reportedly broke NCAA rules when she sat next to Griner's father and discussed what the Baylor experience would be like. Brittney Griner, who is from the Houston area, played on the same AAU team as Mulkey's daughter, Makenzie Robertson.

The NCAA report did not mention Griner or her family by name, though Mulkey addressed it in her statement.

"The other matters were related to my daughter's participation in summer basketball," she said. "While I am and will always be a mother first, I do recognize that there has to be a balance between my role as a mother of a prospect and my role as a head coach. I have always tried to strike that balance and appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate to the NCAA staff such balancing efforts dating back to when Makenzie was in the seventh grade. I am pleased that my efforts to find the appropriate balance between a mother and a coach were recognized."

Griner said she had "made it clear to the NCAA staff and everyone else" that she had chosen Baylor early in the recruiting process.

The NCAA's investigation also determined that former men's assistant Mark Morefield committed a major violation when he attempted to influence two AAU coaches to furnish the NCAA with false and misleading information regarding a series of text messages. Morefield, who resigned in July 2011, faces a one-year "show cause" order that effectively prevents him from coaching at an NCAA school.

"I sincerely apologize to Baylor University and Baylor Nation. I learned a very valuable lesson in this case," Morefield said in a statement released Thursday. "In my 13 years of coaching at NCAA institutions, I have not intentionally violated NCAA rules. I will grow from this experience with a better understanding of NCAA rules."

The NCAA violations come nine years after Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy was found shot to death after he had been missing for six weeks. Teammate Carlton Dotson pleaded guilty to murder. The ensuing investigation uncovered NCAA violations, illegal tuition payments and unreported failed drug tests that led to the resignation of coach Dave Bliss, who was secretly recorded by an assistant coach while trying to persuade others to cover up misdeeds by portraying Dennehy as a drug dealer.

Athletic director Ian McCaw said the school has made "significant investments in compliance staffing and infrastructure" since the investigation began.

Drew said he took full responsibility for the violations, saying many were simply the result of improperly logging or failing to log calls to recruits. He noted that the school has a new software tracking system to assist coaches with the logistics.

"I came to Baylor in 2003 to do a job: rebuild a program decimated by very serious NCAA rules violations and tragedy," he said. "I promised to rebuild the program in a way Baylor could be proud -- morally, academically and, finally, athletically, and we continue on that journey today."

Griner Key to Baylor Win

Brittney Griner took the Baylor Lady Bears to new heights.

Blocking layups, snagging rebounds, hitting shots over two and three helpless defenders, all season long she towered over the competition.

That left Griner with just one more task Tuesday night -- cutting down the nets.

Griner had 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead Baylor to a dominating 80-61 victory over Notre Dame in the NCAA women's basketball championship, capping an unparalleled 40-0 season for the Lady Bears.

"She'll go down as one of the greatest post players in the history of the game," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. "I'm so glad she got that ring."

When the buzzer sounded, Griner finally celebrated, hamming it up as she helped take down the nets and dancing with Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.

Then she lifted coach Mulkey up on her shoulders briefly, just the way she has done for the Lady Bears during this long season.

"It meant everything for us to get it for coach," said Griner, referring to Mulkey's struggle with Bell's palsy during the tournament. "She felt like she wasn't there for us, but we told her every second that we could hear here loud and clear, everything she was saying."

Baylor became the seventh women's team to run through a season unbeaten and the first in NCAA history to win 40 games. It was the second national championship for Baylor, which also won a title in 2005.

"Looking back when we get older, I'm always going to remember this moment, always going to remember confetti falling and being here with my team," Griner said.

Baylor did it in a nearly wire-to-wire victory, finishing with a flourish when anything less than bringing a title back to Waco would have been a huge disappointment.

The 6-foot-8 Griner was right at the center of the action as the Lady Bears took control. Every time Notre Dame made a run in the second half to cut into the deficit, Griner had an answer. She showed a wide array of post moves, hitting turnaround jumpers and hooks that the Irish had no way to stop -- even when they collapsed around her.

"Brittney Griner comes to work every day," Mulkey said. "A lot of great players think they're all that and they half go through drills and they come to practice and they dog it. That child comes to work and brings her work pail every day."

Notre Dame fell short in the title game for the second straight season. The Irish lost to Texas A&M by six points last year.

Coach Muffet McGraw's senior-heavy crew did finish the season with a decided edge over rival Connecticut -- the Irish won the Big East regular season title and defeated the Huskies in three of four meetings, including the national semifinal.

But like every other team this year, Notre Dame couldn't solve Baylor and its superstar.

"I think she's one of a kind," McGraw said. "There's so many things she can do. There have been some guards that have had some skill like that. But as a post player, she's the best I've seen."

Griner, selected The Associated Press player of the year, also was named most outstanding player of the tournament.

"We wouldn't be here without my team," the junior said. "All the awards -- none of that means anything. If I don't have my team here, we can't get this."

All-American point guard Skylar Diggins did all she could to keep the Irish (36-4) in the game, scoring 20 points. But senior Natalie Novosel had just five points, going 0 for 11 from the field. Devereaux Peters, also playing in her final game, was saddled with foul trouble because of Griner. She scored seven points.

Diggins "played a great game," McGraw said. "She's just a big-time player and she didn't get a lot of help today."

Like Griner, Diggins has pledged to return for her senior year -- both could join the WNBA draft -- and will try to make a third run at the title.

Notre Dame had an early 9-8 lead before Baylor took over with a 12-2 run. The Irish were down by 14 in the first half before cutting their deficit to 34-28 at the break. They got as close as 42-39 and had the ball, but Griner asserted herself, scoring nine of the next 19 points for Baylor to seal the victory.

"They went on a run there," Diggins said. "I just remember we cut it down to three and they went on a run. I saw 10, 12, 14, 16, 19. We couldn't get rebounds when they missed shots."

Odyssey Sims added 19 points and Destiny Williams had 12 for the Lady Bears, who outrebounded Notre Dame 46-27 and now have the third unbeaten season in women's basketball in the last four years. UConn, which has gone undefeated four times, did it in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010. Texas and Tennessee also have unbeaten seasons.

Baylor's victory also gave President Barack Obama some bragging rights. He correctly picked Baylor to beat Notre Dame in the title game.

With 1:04 left and the game well in hand, Mulkey took out Griner and the two shared a long hug. The fiery coach then went down the bench and hugged each of her players while holding back tears.

"I'm just so happy," Mulkey said. "That old saying, 'you're so happy you cry.' I can't quit crying."

Mulkey, who did her net cutting with daughter Mackenzie -- who is a freshman on the team -- and son Kramer, has now won a title as a player (at Louisiana Tech), an Olympic gold medal (in 1984) and two titles as a coach. Only five women's coaches have more than one championship at the top level of NCAA competition.

Mulkey has downplayed the 40 wins, noting that her former coach and mentor at Louisiana Tech Leon Barmore won 40 games in 1980. That was before women's basketball was governed by the NCAA, which didn't begin keeping records until the 1982 season.

It was the second meeting between the teams this season. Baylor also won the first one, by 13 in Waco on Nov. 17. That win gave the Lady Bears the preseason WNIT title.

As usual, Griner put on a show in warmups, thrilling the crowd with a series of impressive dunks -- including a one-handed throw down, a double-pump slam and another in which she hung on rim. She dunked twice in the tournament, matching Candace Parker for most dunks by a woman in NCAA tournament play and during a college career (seven).

She couldn't catch one against the Irish.

The Lady Bears had a strong cheering section that included Griffin -- dancing in his seat at the end of the game -- and country music star Trace Adkins. He was a freshman walk-on football player at Louisiana Tech in the early 1980s when Mulkey was a senior there.

Notre Dame had its own star fan in former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who earned a graduate degree at the school. The Irish were wearing their green uniforms for the first time since last season's title loss.

It didn't help. But on this night, nothing else could stop Griner, either.