Alabama Basketball Administrator Kobie Baker Resigns Following ‘Internal Review’
A day after an FBI investigation led to the arrest of assistant coaches with four major college basketball programs, the University of Alabama took what it deemed as 'proactive measures' by accepting the resignation of administrator Kobie Baker.
The Tuscaloosa native was working in the athletic department overseeing all areas of men's basketball administration. Alabama's director of athletics Greg Byrne released a statement Wednesday night regarding the internal review and resignation.
Following yesterday’s reports from New York regarding a Federal investigation of intercollegiate athletics, The University of Alabama Department of Athletics immediately initiated an internal review of our men’s basketball operations. As a result, we have accepted the resignation effective today of Kobie Baker, a men’s basketball administrator. Our review has not identified any NCAA or SEC rules violations nor the involvement of any other coach or staff member. We have notified both of the governing bodies of the actions we have taken. As always, we will continue to be proactive in our compliance efforts.
According to Baker's bio on RollTide.com (which has now been removed), he spent time with the NCAA with a focus on enforcement.
Baker gained valuable experience as the Assistant Director of Enforcement for Basketball Development at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). While there, Baker developed significant expertise in the scholastic and non-scholastic basketball recruiting environment and applicable NCAA legislation, which provided him the tools to effectively monitor and mitigate potential violations through outreach and education.
Baker also served as an Associate Director of Amateurism Certification at the NCAA. This administrative role was another formative experience, where his range of responsibilities included processing information for cases involving potential violations of NCAA amateurism legislation in men’s basketball, certifying prospective student-athlete eligibility and engaging in outreach efforts on behalf of the Eligibility Center that sought to provide relevant eligibility- related rules education to prospective men’s basketball student-athletes.
There are no further details on what connection, if any, Baker had with the ongoing FBI investigation.