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Report: Florida knew about Sam Ukwuachu's history of violence

Graham Watson
Art Briles has changed the face of Baylor football, but does that make him the best coach in the Big 12? Find out what associate editor Rich Cirminiello thinks as he breaks down his top five Big 12 coaches.
Art Briles has changed the face of Baylor football, but does that make him the best coach in the Big 12? Find out what associate editor Rich Cirminiello thinks as he breaks down his top five Big 12 coaches.

Baylor has gone to great lengths to show that it did not know about Sam Ukwuachu's history of violence against his girlfriend while at Boise State. However, an article published in Sports Illustrated’s Campus Rush on Tuesday says at least one school did know Ukwuachu was troubled, which ultimately caused it to pass on the star defensive lineman.

According to Sports Illustrated, which cites two former Florida athletic department employees, Florida was interested in recruiting Ukwuachu in May 2013 after he was dismissed from Boise State. That recruitment was halted when a Boise State athletic department employee detailed Ukwuachu’s domestic violence issues with the Florida athletic department and then-coach Will Muschamp decided against recruiting him.

That included the former freshman All-America defensive end's alleged physical abuse of his girlfriend and an allegation that Ukwuachu put his fist through a window while drunk at the couple's home, one of the ex-staffers said. (Ukwuachu was not charged in either incident.)

"There was no way," one of the former Florida employees told The Inside Read of Ukwuachu. "[Muschamp] wouldn't touch him."

Ukwuachu was convicted last Thursday of sexually assaulting a former Baylor soccer player in 2013 and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 10 years of probation. On two occasions — once after the verdict and once after the sentencing — Baylor coach Art Briles claimed he knew nothing of Ukwuachu's violence toward his girlfriend and claimed Boise State never informed Baylor of the transgressions. Chris Petersen, the former Boise State coach who is now at Washington, issued a statement saying he initiated a call to Briles and “thoroughly apprised” the Baylor coach of the circumstances involving Ukwuachu's dismissal from the Boise State program.

Baylor responded to Petersen by making public the transfer information request form provided to Baylor by Boise State. One question on the form asks if the player had been "suspended or disqualified by the institution for disciplinary reasons" and the box next to it was checked “No.” However, Boise State never expelled Ukwuachu, it merely kicked him off the football team.

Ukwuachu’s former high school football coach also tried to come to Baylor’s aid by saying he also didn’t know about Ukwuachu’s violent past. However, it’s reasonable that Boise State did not disclose this information because of FERPA laws, which prohibit the release of sensitive student information.

Petersen and Briles are friends and the call between them could have been Petersen giving his friend a courtesy heads-up, regradless of the FERPA laws that prohibited him from doing so.

Petersen was asked about his statement again during a press conference Tuesday and declined to comment further.

One of the Florida athletic department sources told Sports Illustrated that Ukwuachu was not forthcoming about his issues at Boise State.

Said the ex-Florida official to Sports Illustrated: "There was absolutely no doubt."

For more Baylor news, visit SicEmSports.com.

For more Boise State news, visit Blue-Turf.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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