Baylor AD Mack Rhoades resigns, a week after taking leave for personal reasons

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Baylor AD Mack Rhoades resigns, a week after taking leave for personal reasons

2025-11-21 09:37 Last Updated At：09:40

WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades resigned Thursday, a week after he took a leave of absence for personal reasons.

Rhoades had also stepped down last week from his role as chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee.

Linda Livingstone, the school's president, said in a letter Thursday that Rhoades had informed her of his decision to step away from his position at Baylor. She said the move was effective immediately.

“I find myself in a season of life where I need to prioritize my faith and my family with an intentional focus that requires me to move on from my role as caretaker of this great athletics program,” Rhoades said in a statement on Thursday night, without elaborating on the reasons for his decision.

“The incredible community that is the Baylor family is the absolute best of the best,” he said. “Together, we won national championships, established records in academics and fundraising, and built world-class facilities. I will forever cherish the memories and friendships I made as a Baylor Bear.”

After Rhoades began his leave on Nov. 12, the private Big 12 school said it was investigating unspecified allegations against him. The status of that investigation, or if it is still ongoing, was not immediately clear after he left the job.

The school, without giving further details, said last week that allegations against Rhoades did not involve Title IX, student-athlete welfare or NCAA rules violations, and did not involve the football program.

Rhoades took over as Baylor’s AD in July 2016, replacing Ian McCaw in the wake of the revelation of a sprawling sexual assault scandal that also cost two-time Big 12 champion football coach Art Briles his job. That NCAA case against the Bears wasn’t resolved until 2021, when the school was placed on four years of probation.

Livingstone said co-interim ADs Jovan Overshown and Cody Hall will continue in their current roles leading the department during the search for a new athletic director.

“Be assured we remain deeply committed to competing at the highest levels of athletics, both in competition and the classroom,” Livingstone wrote. “I am certain that we will find a new AD who shares in this competitive commitment, aligns with and supports Baylor’s Christian mission, and can lead us into this next era of intercollegiate athletics.”

Rhoades was in the second year of a three-year CFP selection committee appointment, and his first season as chairman. He was replaced as chairman by Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, while Utah AD Mark Harlan was appointed to fill Rhoades’ vacancy on the committee as the Big 12 representative after previously serving a one-year term in 2023.

During Rhoades' time as Baylor's AD, the men's basketball team won its first national championship in 2021, two years after the women's team won its third title. The football team set a school record with 12 wins overall in 2021, while winning the Big 12 title and then winning the Sugar Bowl. The Bears also made the Sugar Bowl in 2019, losing that game.

He also oversaw the project to build Foster Pavilion, the school's $212 million basketball arena that opened in January 2024.

“While transitions like these are never easy, they provide an opportunity to reflect on the significant impact Mack has had on our university,” Livingstone wrote. “Mack has led our athletics program through a period of remarkable rebuilding and achievement. During his tenure, Baylor claimed numerous Big 12 championships, made countless postseason appearances and earned national titles in several sports, including historic wins that will forever be etched in our collective memory. These victories were not just about athletic excellence, they were moments that brought the Baylor family together, united in joy and spirit.”

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Trump says US forces will 'finish the job' soon in first prime-time speech since starting Iran war

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will “finish the job” in Iran soon as “core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” offering a full-throated defense of the war Wednesday night in his first national address since the conflict began more than a month ago.

Trump used his platform before a wide audience to tout the success of the U.S. operations in Iran and argue that all of Washington’s objectives have so far been met or exceeded. He ticked through a timeline of past American involvement in conflicts and noted that the ongoing war in Iran had lasted 32 days in comparison, seeming to appeal to the public for more time to achieve the mission.

“In these past four weeks our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield,” Trump said, saying the U.S. military action had been “so powerful, so brilliant” that “one of the most powerful countries” is “really no longer a threat” — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors early Thursday.

Trump spent much of an address that lasted just under 20 minutes repeating many of the same things he said in recent weeks and providing few new details. The speech appeared unlikely to move the needle of public sentiment at a time when polling shows many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran and as gas and oil prices remain high.

“Tonight, I’m pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion,” Trump said. He also acknowledged American service members who had been killed and added, “We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast. We’re getting very close.”

He didn’t mention the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops into Iran, nor did he mention NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance he has railed against for not helping the U.S. secure the critical Strait of Hormuz. He didn’t mention negotiation talks with Iran or bring up his April 6 deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway or face severe retaliation from the U.S.

In his speech, Trump seemed to suggest he had ruled out going into Iran to get the enriched uranium, though he has been clear that the country could “never have a nuclear weapon.”

“The nuclear sites that we obliterated with the B-2 bombers have been hit so hard that it would take months to get near the nuclear dust,” Trump said Wednesday. "And we have it under intense satellite surveillance and control. If we see them make a move, even a move for it, we’ll hit them with missiles very hard again.”

Trump encouraged countries reliant on oil through the Strait of Hormuz to “build some delayed courage” and go “take it.”

He also said that the fighting would continue for at least a few more weeks.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong," Trump said.

Oil rose more than 4% and Asian stocks fell after Trump said in his address that the U.S. will continue to hit Iran very hard.

Trump's comments in his address were more measured than some of his previous remarks, including earlier Wednesday at a White House Easter lunch.

Of Iran, he told his assembled guests: “We could just take their oil. But you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate.”

“Yeah, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I prefer just to take the oil,” Trump said. “We could do it so easily. I would prefer that. But people in the country sort of say: ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too, because we have a lot of oil between Venezuela and our oil.”

The media was not permitted to watch the president’s remarks at the lunch, but the White House uploaded video of the speech online before taking it down. The White House did not return requests for comment from The Associated Press on the video and why it was taken down.

In the lunch, the president reiterated some of his complaints about NATO allies for their reluctance to get involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz while suggesting that China, Japan and South Korea could also step up to reopen the waterway.

“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force -- let South Korea do it,” Trump said of efforts to reopen the strait. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”

In a social media post Wednesday morning, Trump wrote that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.

Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.

Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why. Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub.

Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.

Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.