The College Football Playoff selection committee finds itself in uncharted territory this week. Its chairman abruptly stepped away from his role at one of the most critical junctures of the season. Rankings are being finalized, playoff berths are on the line, and suddenly the person steering the ship has vanished for what’s being called “personal reasons.” For Baylor University, too, this departure is a potential crisis that comes after an ugly sideline incident from earlier this season.

“Baylor AD Mack Rhoades is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons, the school confirms to @YahooSports. Rhoades initiated the leave, which started yesterday,” Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported on Thursday. The announcement sent shockwaves through college football circles. Rhoades holds one of the most powerful positions in the sport as CFP selection committee chair. 

“How this impacts Rhoades’ appointment on the CFP selection committee – he’s the chair – is unclear at this time,” Dellenger added in his initial report. Rhoades told ESPN that he initiated the leave himself but declined to explain why, leaving everyone to connect the dots on their own. 

The vague “personal reasons” explanation did little to quell speculation. Fans are eager to know the reason, especially after what happened just weeks earlier during a home game that put Rhoades squarely in the crosshairs of his own institution.​ That September 20 game against Arizona State turned into trouble on the Baylor sideline. 

According to reports, Rhoades allegedly grabbed tight end Michael Trigg by his gold, long-sleeved undershirt during the first quarter. And while using an expletive, he demanded to know why he was wearing it when the rest of the team had dark-colored undershirts on. 

The incident escalated quickly, with head coach Dave Aranda and tight ends coach Jarrett Anderson getting into heated exchanges with Rhoades. Multiple human resources complaints were filed as a result of the confrontation. The incident “rattled” Trigg and had a lingering impact on his performance that day. 

Baylor conducted an investigation into the matter, and Rhoades later apologized to Trigg face-to-face, with the school acknowledging that “appropriate actions were taken” and calling the matter “closed” more than a month ago. 

Dellenger followed up his initial report with a bombshell that complicated the narrative even further. “Baylor was made aware of allegations involving AD Mack Rhoades and is conducting an investigation,” sources tell @YahooSports. The allegations are unrelated to a Sept. 20 game against Arizona State involving a football player (a story originally emerging last week from OutKick),” Dellenger reported. 

He clarified further: “These new allegations do not involve Title IX or any direct interaction with a Baylor athlete, sources say. The university completed a separate investigation into the Sept. 20 football game.” So while many assumed Rhoades’ sudden departure was directly tied to the Trigg incident, these new revelations suggest something else entirely is at play. 

The nature of these new allegations remains unclear. But the fact that Baylor is conducting another investigation while Mack Rhoades takes leave suggests the situation is serious enough that staying in his role wasn’t an option.​

A father’s frustration 

Michael Trigg Sr. didn’t mince words when discussing what happened to his son on that September sideline. And his mix of frustration and relief painted a clear picture of a parent caught between protecting his kid and not wanting to make waves that could hurt his college career. 

The elder Trigg explained that his son was wearing the gold, long-sleeved undershirt specifically because he had a shoulder injury. The shirt covered his brace, a medical necessity that Mack Rhoades apparently didn’t bother to ask about before grabbing him.

“(My son) wanted us to change our flight home to come talk to (Rhoades) on Monday, but Coach Anderson said he’s going to handle it,” Trigg Sr. told The Athletic. “He advocated for him during the game. Everything’s good now. I don’t want anything to disrupt his football.” That last line says everything about where Trigg Sr.’s priorities were. His son is a potential early-round NFL Draft pick and one of the top tight ends in the country. And the last thing he needed was drama with the athletic director derailing his final college season.​

But even as Trigg Sr. tried to keep the peace and move forward, you could hear the frustration seeping through when he talked about the values Baylor claims to represent. “What bothers me is, Baylor is a Christian school,” Trigg Sr. said. “For someone in the administration to have those choice words for a student-athlete? And that’s the first interaction you’ve ever had with one of your better players? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

The fact that Rhoades’ first-ever interaction with one of his program’s stars involved grabbing him and cursing at him over a shirt color clearly didn’t sit right, especially at an institution that markets itself on Christian values and integrity.