Baylor University announced that football coach Art Briles has been suspended with intent to terminate, with president Ken Starr transitioning to chancellor and athletic director Ian McCaw sanctioned and placed on probation.

Baylor's actions comes more than a week after the regents received an independent report from a law firm that investigated the school's response to allegations of sexual assaults by students, including several Baylor football players.

"We were horrified by the extent of these acts of sexual violence on our campus. This investigation revealed the University's mishandling of reports in what should have been a supportive, responsive and caring environment for students," Richard Willis, chair of the Baylor Board of Regents, said in a statement. "The depth to which these acts occurred shocked and outraged us. Our students and their families deserve more, and we have committed our full attention to improving our processes, establishing accountability and ensuring appropriate actions are taken to support former, current and future students."

Dr. David Garland, a former dean and professor at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, will serve as interim president. The school said in the release that additional members of the administration and athletics program have also been dismissed, but declined to identify them.

Briles, 60, had eight years left on a 10-year contract extension that he signed with Baylor in November 2013. Although Baylor hasn't released the details of his contract because it is a private school, it is believed that Briles was making nearly $6 million per season, which made him the Big 12's highest-paid coach and one of the highest-paid in FBS.

According to Baylor's most recent IRS filing, Briles' base salary in 2014 was $4.2 million, which was considerably more than university president Kenneth Starr's base salary of $789,000 annually.

It is not known whether Briles has negotiated a buyout with Baylor. In most college coaching contracts, a university can fire a coach without having to pay the remainder of his or her contract if it has findings of cause.

Briles and McCaw have been criticized for recruiting players who were previously dismissed by their former schools and for the way they disciplined players who allegedly committed violent acts against women and other assaults.

The school said in the release that McCaw will work with university leadership and the Board of Regents "to implement the recommendations as they relate to the restoration of a tone of accountability within the football program, to effective oversight and controls of the Athletics Department, and to critically needed changes that will re-align the Athletics program with the University mission."

Baylor's statement said that the findings in the report by the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton "reflect a fundamental failure by Baylor to implement Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA)." According to Baylor, the findings in the report include:

• The University's student conduct processes were wholly inadequate to consistently provide a prompt and equitable response under Title IX; Baylor failed to consistently support complainants through the provision of interim measures; and in some cases, the University failed to take action to identify and eliminate a potential hostile environment, prevent its recurrence or address its effects.

• Actions by University administrators directly discouraged some complainants from reporting or participating in student conduct processes and in one instance constituted retaliation against a complainant for reporting sexual assault.

• In addition to broader University failings, Pepper found specific failings within both the football program and Athletics department leadership, including a failure to identify and respond to a pattern of sexual violence by a football player and to a report of dating violence.

• There are significant concerns about the tone and culture within Baylor's football program as it relates to accountability for all forms of student athlete misconduct.

• Over the course of their review, Pepper investigated the University's response to reports of a sexual assault involving multiple football players. The football program and Athletics department leadership failed to take appropriate action in response to these reports.

In the fall of 2015, Baylor hired Pepper Hamilton to review its past treatment of sexual assault claims. Outside the Lines reported last week that some Baylor officials, including coaches, knew about incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence and other acts of violence involving football players, but most players didn't miss playing time as punishment.

Two Baylor players who were accused of sexual assault were recruited by Briles after they were dismissed from their previous schools for off-field problems. In August 2015, former Baylor football player Sam Ukwuachu was sentenced to 180 days in jail after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a women's soccer player. Briles was criticized for accepting Ukwuachu as a transfer student after then-Boise State coach Chris Petersen dismissed him from the team for off-field issues. Ukwuachu's former girlfriend testified at his trial that he had struck and choked her when he attended Boise State.

Then in April, former Bears star defensive end Shawn Oakman was arrested on a charge of sexual assault. A Baylor graduate student told Waco police that Oakman "forcibly removed" her clothes, forced her onto his bed and then sexually assaulted her on April 3, according to an arrested warrant obtained by ESPN. Oakman, the school's all-time sack leader, who wasn't selected in last month's NFL draft, told police he had consensual sex with the woman. Oakman was dismissed from Penn State after he allegedly grabbed the wrist of a female store clerk.

Starr, a former independent counselor who is perhaps best known for investigating former U.S. President Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern, has served as president of Baylor since June 1, 2010. And in November 2013, the regents also appointed him as chancellor, a position that had been vacant since 2006. During Starr's tenure, he has been credited with several fundraising initiatives, most notably raising $120 million in donations that helped pay for McLane Stadium, Baylor's new $266 million football stadium which opened on the banks of the Brazos River in Waco, Texas in 2014.

Starr was popular among students for his participation in the "Baylor Line," a school tradition in which freshman students wear yellow shirts and rush the field before home football games, and was often seen at other sporting events.

Under Starr's watch, Baylor enjoyed unprecedented athletic success. The 2012-13 academic year is often referred to as the "Year of the Bear" by Baylor alumni and fans. During the 2011 season, Bears quarterback Robert Griffin III became the school's first Heisman Trophy winner. The women's basketball team became the first NCAA squad — men's or women's — to finish 40-0, and star Brittney Griner was named National Player of the Year. Baylor's men's basketball team started 17-0 and reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, and the baseball team won 49 games.

Baylor's football ascension from perennial Big 12 doormat to a national powerhouse under Briles is considered an unlikely feat. The Bears suffered 12 consecutive losing seasons before Briles was hired in December 2007. After going 4-8 in each of Briles' first two seasons, Baylor went 7-6 and played in its first bowl game in 16 years in 2010.

Since 2011, Briles has guided Baylor to a 50-15 record, winning 10 games or more four of the past five seasons. The Bears won at least a share of consecutive Big 12 titles in 2013 and '14; the 2013 title was the school's first outright conference championship since 1980.

Briles came to Baylor from Houston, where he led the Cougars to four bowl games in five seasons.