Ian McCaw Resigns as Athletic Director

After 13 years at the helm, Ian McCaw has resigned as the athletic director at Baylor University. The news was first reported by Bears Truth. Several other news outlets have confirmed that report. Baylor will soon turn to an athletic director tasked with leading the University past another scandal, a situation Ian McCaw found himself in not so long ago.

Ian McCaw was hired as Baylor's Athletic Director in 2003. McCaw took over leading an athletic program plagued by a horrific scandal following the murder of Patrick Dennehy. McCaw hired Scott Drew to take over the program, and the Bears have had one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA history. Since 2010, Baylor has been to five NCAA tournaments, two elite eights, and a sweet sixteen. The Bears have also won an N.I.T. title.

McCaw will forever be linked to Art Briles. In 2008, Art Briles was brought on to turnaround a program that had never made a bowl game since joining the Big 12 in 1996. The Bears would do more than make a bowl. During Briles tenure, Baylor won two Big 12 titles, a Heisman trophy, and had a host of NFL draft picks.

In what will be one of his final acts, McCaw hired Jim Grobe as the acting coach of the Baylor football team. Grobe will coach the team for the 2016 season.

News of McCaw's resignation comes less than a week after being placed on probation by Baylor University. The findings of Pepper Hamilton, a Philadelphia law firm, led to the firing of Art Briles on Thursday.

We still don't know all the details about what Ian McCaw knew or how involved he was in what Pepper Hamilton described as a process where, "Leadership challenges and communications issues hindered enforcement of rules and policies, and created a cultural perception that football was above the rules." What we do know is that Baylor will have a new president, athletic director and head football coach in 2017.

Just after 6 PM, Baylor officially announced McCaw's resignation:

Ian McCaw on his resignation + a statement from Baylor's BOR pic.twitter.com/qtZMIYELnB

— Max Olson (@max_olson) May 30, 2016