BOSTON — A former Stanford sailing coach who on Wednesday became the first person to be sentenced in the nation’s largest-ever college admissions fraud prosecution has avoided prison time, receiving a far lighter punishment than prosecutors had sought.

The coach, John Vandemoer, who was accused of taking bribes from a corrupt college consultant, was ordered to spend a single day in jail — time the judge said he had already served — and six months in home confinement as part of two years of supervised release.

Prosecutors had called for a 13-month sentence, and the lighter penalty raised uncertainties about the future of the sprawling case, which has so far brought criminal charges against 50 people, including other coaches, Hollywood actresses and prominent figures from the worlds of law and finance. Yet the outcome of Mr. Vandemoer’s case seemed an imperfect indicator of how cases against others may play out.

Unlike other coaches charged in the admissions scheme, Mr. Vandemoer, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering, did not pocket any money from the bribes. He negotiated with the college consultant at the center of the scandal to designate students as recruits to the Stanford sailing team even though they were not competitive sailors, giving them an advantage in the admissions process. In exchange, the consultant directed hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to the school’s sailing program.