James Davis, vice president for legal affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, has finished his review of the school's admissions process and issued recommendations to "close vulnerabilities."

President Gregory Fenves ordered the review in mid-March, at the same time as the university fired head tennis coach Michael Center after he was caught accepting a $100,000 bribe in the nationwide college admissions scandal.

Center pleaded guilty April 24 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, and is awaiting sentencing. He could receive 15 to 21 months in prison under sentencing guidelines. His attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

The school's admissions review "found no other student-athlete was improperly admitted into UT Austin," according to a summary Davis posted online. Davis could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The summary said Davis reviewed the admission of 827 student athletes enrolled in any sport between 2012 and 2017, and all men's tennis student-athletes enrolled during Center's 18-year tenure.

But the report said the process was vulnerable because it allowed the tennis coach to give a student preferential admission treatment along with a scholarship when the student was not a legitimate athlete. Once admitted to the school, the student then dropped the sport.

"Center's conduct was unthinkable in athletics, [so] the controls in place did not catch his subterfuge," the report stated.

Apparently others had the same idea though since Center was one of nine coaches arrested at colleges across the country for similar conduct.

The report's key recommendation is to implement a process "to objectively validate a prospective student's athletic legitimacy" prior to admission. This process would include a written assessment of each prospective student's athletic accomplishments plus ratings from independent sources; a review of the assessment by athletics department leadership, and then another review by the university's office of admissions.

"This recommendation alone should eliminate the risk of a future admission of a student-athlete who has no meaningful connection to the sport," the report added.

Davis also recommended:

• The athletic department scrutinize and document the admission circumstances of any student-athlete who withdraws from athletics during the first semester of college.
• The school set clear standards for recommending admissions, communicate those standards to coaches and the compliance staff, and regularly train staff on how to communicate concerns about admissions matters.
• The university improve the management of the athletics department culture and employee performance.

Davis said the review offered additional details and recommendations that were attorney-client privileged. They were related to managing culture, managing key employees and improving the student-athlete admissions process "with alternative potential options."

In a letter Monday to the campus community, Fenves announced the report, adding: "The University of Texas at Austin thrives because of our commitment to our ethics and core values. When we come up short, it is critical that we acknowledge mistakes and work swiftly to improve."

To its credit, the men's tennis team managed to rise above the notoriety of the admissions scandal and loss of its head coach. In May, under a replacement coach, it went on to win the school's first national tennis championship.