The Baylor University basketball scandal occurred in the early 2000s, when Baylor University's men's basketball program was investigated and punished for numerous infractions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The scandal broke out after the 2003 murder of Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy. Dennehy's teammate Carlton Dotson pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to a 35-year prison term.
Shortly after Dennehy's initial disappearance, Baylor and the NCAA began investigations into multiple allegations, ranging from drug use among players to improper payments to players by the coaching staff. Baylor self-imposed punishments, which the NCAA augmented to include extended probation for the school through 2010, the elimination of one year of non-conference play, and a ten-year show-cause penalty on resigned head coach Dave Bliss. The sanctions so crippled the basketball program that they didn't have another winning season until 2008. It is one of the harshest penalties ever imposed on a Division I program that didn't include the NCAA's "death penalty".