yup...baylor needs some overhaul work

[dmcgeeforpres]

Baylor coach, AD resign amidst violations

08/09/2003

By RANA L. CASH / The Dallas Morning News

Embattled Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss announced his resignation Friday and president Robert Sloan accepted the resignation of athletic director Tom Stanton during a hastily called afternoon press conference in Waco, Texas.

Sloan also announced that he has played the Baylor basketball program on probation for a minimum of two years for what he deemed “major” violations involving financial aid and scholarship distribution and drug use. Baylor will not be eligible to participate in the 2003-04 postseason, included the Big 12 conference tournament.

One day after funeral services were held in San Jose, Calif. for slain player Patrick Dennehy, Bliss, 59, left the post he held for four seasons. The resignation is another chapter in a saga that has exposed numerous possible NCAA violations within the program in the midst of an investigation into the alleged murder of Dennehy by teammate Carlton Dotson.

Dennehy’s family alleged that Bliss’ coaching staff was informed of the player’s concern for his safety in the weeks before he disappeared but did not respond. Additionally, several people close to the program – including Dotson’s estranged wife Melissa Kethley and former Baylor basketball players – have given accounts of frequent marijuana use by a number of Baylor players.

Kethley also added that a player who was drug-free at the time provided urine for a drug test for Dotson, who left the team after the 2002-03 season. Two other ex-Baylor players, Will Allen and Steve Raquet, said that during then-recruit Harvey Thomas’ unofficial visit, Thomas played a pickup game that Bliss and assistant coach Rodney Belcher observed in person. That would be an NCAA violation.

Baylor announced that it had formed an independent committee to do a thorough investigation of each of the claims made against the program. In a news conference July 28, Bliss said, “First of all, I’ve been coaching basketball for almost 30 years. During that time, even though we haven’t always won the championship, I’ve always felt that we had a solid program. We’ve tried to run it as upright and as classy as we could.”

Dennehy’s body was found July 25, more than a month after a missing persons report was filed June 19.

Bliss’ career has spanned 28 years and has included stops at Oklahoma, SMU, New Mexico and finally, Baylor.

[Cerebus]

They are going on two years of probation, at least.

If I understand the NCAA rules correctly, that means any of thier players can transfer w/o sitting out.

Anyone know if that is correct? IS there anyone at Baylor we would want?

[CMJ]

I believe you're correct Cerebus. Once probabtion goes into effect, players can leave with no penalty.

I'm gonna start going over their roster for a big man.

[Buford_Julep]

Lawrence Roberts and John Lucas are both very good players.

[NT80]

Regents promise action

Baylor's governing board looking for source of payments

08/10/2003

By LEE HANCOCKand JEFF MILLER / The Dallas Morning News

Stunned Baylor regents are reeling from the cascade of events Friday that led to the school's admission of major wrongdoing in its basketball program and the resignation of head coach Dave Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton.

One regent, Carl Bell, said Saturday that he now questions whether a select booster group created after Mr. Bliss arrived at the school – an organization dubbed "the 6th Man Club" – could have been a source for improper payments that Baylor president Robert Sloan described as major NCAA violations.

He and other regents say sorting out the exact source of the illicit payments – whether from boosters or others – is a priority for the university's governing board.

"We obviously want to know who is connected to the program, who has access to that amount of money," said the Rev. Phil Lineberger, a regent from Sugar Land. "We have an audit committee who will go through all the records of the athletic department to be sure that money is all accounted for."

Dr. Sloan also announced Friday that the men's basketball program would be placed on at least two years' probation and held out of next season's Big 12 Conference tournament and other postseason play. And, he said, the athletic department's drug testing policies will be revamped because results of some failed tests were concealed by members of the department.

Four regents said Saturday that Dr. Sloan told them in a hastily arranged conference call before the violations were made public Friday afternoon that Mr. Bliss had come to his office earlier that day and admitted direct involvement in improper payments of tuition for two players.

Regents said one of the players was identified as Patrick Dennehy, whose June slaying – allegedly by friend and fellow teammate Carlton Dotson – prompted allegations about improper payments, frequent drug use and other serious problems in Baylor's basketball program.

The other player given improper tuition payments was not identified to the board, regents said, but was described as a current team member.

Payment credits

Dr. Sloan also told regents that Mr. Bliss said money used to pay the improper tuition payments was from his own personal funds, board members said.

After the violations and resignations were announced, one regent recounted learning that Mr. Dennehy's tuition account at the university showed a series of $1,000 payment credits that were "very different" from the norm – in part because there was no indicated source.

"There were indications that a unusual series of $1,000 credits existed on Dennehy's tuition payment record, and it appears there are questions in this area," said the regent, who asked not to be identified. "The administration needs to clarify this as soon as possible."

Most regents who agreed to talk about Friday's tumultuous events asked for anonymity because they said the board was specifically warned that its afternoon conference call was a secret, executive session.

The controversy over Baylor's basketball program had been discussed only briefly in a routine conference call on Friday morning. Regents said Dr. Sloan and several board members talked about their trip with Mr. Bliss, Mr. Stanton and other athletics department officials to a Thursday memorial service for Mr. Dennehy in San Jose, Calif.

"This is the irony of this whole day," said Mr. Bell. "There were some very positive comments about the tone of the service, positive in making the best of a very unfortunate, tragic situation."

Regents said it was during the second, emergency conference call meeting at 4 p.m. that Dr. Sloan outlined what Mr. Bliss had told him after coming to his office with Bill Underwood – a law professor named last month to head an internal investigation of reported improper payments involving Mr. Dennehy and other alleged improprieties in the basketball program.

Dr. Sloan told regents that the coach "came to his office and said he needed to talk to him and wanted to tell him that he was guilty of infractions and wanted to offer his resignation," Dr. Lineberger said.

"It was a real shock to the president because they had just been to the funeral together," Dr. Lineberger said.

Board members began asking questions, but the conference had to be cut short so Dr. Sloan could go to a scheduled 4:30 p.m. news conference to announce the resignations and NCAA violations.

One regent said several regents were disturbed when Mr. Bliss said at the news conference that he had been made aware only that day of the violations, because Dr. Sloan had told regents that the coach had acknowledged having direct involvement in the payments.

"That's not the same thing," one regent said.

Another board member said regents got few other details in the conference call. The regent said that the money expended was alleged to be Mr. Bliss', adding, "I have a hard time believing that's the whole truth."

Added a third regent: "If a coach or an assistant coach is paying a player's costs, that money's got to come from somewhere. The question is, where does it come from? ... It would be a little unusual for a coach to take it out of his own bank account."

One regent noted that Mr. Bliss' admission does not clear up questions of improper payments, because the university has not yet addressed allegations by some of Mr. Dennehy's friends and relatives that coaches helped him make a down payment on a sport utility vehicle and helped with his share of a luxury apartment and other expenses.

Mr. Dennehy's parents have said they helped him but couldn't afford to cover Baylor's $17,000 tuition and other expenses. They said they did not qualify when they tried to apply for financial aid.

"I think we need to know how those apartments got paid for," the regent said. "If Baylor didn't provide that down payment on the car, I don't know where it did come from."

In the wake of Friday's revelations, Mr. Bell said he has begun questioning whether an elite Baylor basketball booster group organized after Mr. Bliss took over as head coach in 1999 could've been a source of money improperly used for players' tuition.

He said the 6th Man Club has "15 to 20 members" who pay $1,500 annually for the privilege of meeting with Mr. Bliss to watch game tapes, hear about recruiting prospects and get a personal perspective on the program's goals and competition in the Big XII Conference. Mr. Bell said he joined the group at the behest of Doug Smith, the Bear Foundation executive director.

Athletic department spokesman Scott Stricklin said that, according to Mr. Stanton, the 6th Man is a level of giving in the men's basketball division of the Bear Foundation, the Fast Break Club.

But Mr. Bell said the club is separate from the school's older, less-expensive Fast Break group and offered three or four exclusive "fellowship" gatherings with Mr. Bliss each year at members' homes.

Wants full accounting

He said the group's membership fees were earmarked for a basketball discretionary fund, which he assumed would be used for legitimate expenses such as electronic and videotaping equipment.

"To be honest, I have thought about it, particularly last night and today. I wonder if that is the source of some of this," Mr. Bell said.

"I certainly hope that none of those funds have been used in any way improperly," he said. "Right now there's a question about that."

Mr. Bell said he also wants a full accounting of the failures of the athletic department's drug testing program – a problem that wasn't shared with the regents before Friday's news conference.

"The drug matter troubles me because there are allegations from persons close to Carlton [Dotson] and Patrick [Dennehy] about drug use. Also other athletes," he said. "I was under the impression as a regent that there were very strict rules to be followed for testing, for the timing, and assurances have been made, obviously erroneously by Bliss and others, that all these procedures were followed precisely."

Mr. Dotson's estranged wife, Melissa Kethley of Sulphur Springs, told The Dallas Morning News last month that her husband and five or six other players gathered regularly at the couple's apartment to smoke marijuana. She said her husband and other players got enough warning from coaches to fake drug tests, and she saw another player come to their apartment and give Mr. Dotson a clean urine sample to help him pass a drug screen.

"One of the things that I'm saddened about today is the irony of this whole thing. A lot of angst was created over the drug sting operation and undercover agent allegedly going after the Teke fraternity," Mr. Bell said.

Regent Jaclanel McFarland of Houston was threatened with impeachment over accusations that she had leaked word of that drug sting, but the matter was dropped last month after officials said a two-month review was inconclusive.

"This is the real distressing thing to me: The real drug problem is not with the Tekes. It's with basketball," Mr. Bell said. "If the Baylor chief of police and administration is going to do an undercover or behind-the-scenes surveillance of alleged drug use by Baylor students, it was clearly focusing on – I'm sorry to say – some petty shoplifting, and not the armed bank robbers."

[Cooley]

Ellis Kidd has gone on record as saying that he is staying. I liked him at Dallas Madison. Played his first year at Okla. State. Was a member of the team that whose plane crashed. High shcool teammate of Jerome Rogers. (Dad, is the coach)

Tommy Swanson is a tall skinny kid from N. Crowley. Played with Keith Langford of Kansas. Very good shot blocker.

Lawrence Roberts is too good to come here. Possible pro prospect.

[UNTLifer]

Lawrence Roberts is too good to come here. Possible pro prospect.

Cooley, I appreciate you insight into basketball, but this sort of thinking has got to stop. There isn't one player that is too good to play for UNT.

[Cooley]

UNT Lifer, I couldn't agree more. Tell that to the kids though! My statement was in reference to the perception that most highly regarded kids have of UNT and our Sun Belt Conference affiliation. (“I can do better”)

Practically everyone of this board have chimed in with some form of opinion and/or desire for an improved conference. They all realize the potential impact this will have on kid’s perceptions. (i.e. Conference USA, WAC or improved SBC). Some posters have voiced their reservation about UNT being a serious contender to replace Baylor in the Big 12. (See poll on the football side).

I will always have an admiration for our all time top recruit Milton Collins (football) back in 1977. I personally got to know Milton well having been hailed as the next Earl Campbell coming out of Blooming Grove, TX. Milton went against the grain and sign with tiny NT over the top programs in the country. He frankly felt at home here.

Our neighbors in Dallas feel that including us with them will lower their standards. Imagine what they tell kids we both recruit? Just how many blue chippers historically list UNT on their top 3-5 list? Despite our recent success, we are still hard pressed to receive interest from top local kids. (James Battle TCU, Aldridge kid Houston and others)

I have long advocated that these kids stay home and seriously consider UNT. I'd rather be a big fish in a smaller pond. Look at how Chris Davis has benefitted compared to other equally talented kids that ventured off to bigger named schools. How about Jaquay Wilburn and most recently Kevin Galbraith. These guys are in our record books and eventually, UNT Hall of Fame. I feel you though! This is the place to be. Just don’t shoot the messenger! It is what it is!

[UNTLifer]

Didn't mean to shoot the messenger Cooley. You hit the nail on the head about the kid's perception of UNT. It's now in JJ's hands to change this perception. We have the facility, the SBC isn't that bad and is a good home for us right now, so start selling JJ!

[greenbyx]

Did you see that the parents of some of the other baylor basket ball players want John Lucas to take over, good hire if they can get him to take over that mess even if his son plays on the team

[Greenblood94]

And so it begins...from today's DMN

Monday's college notebook

08/11/2003

From Staff and Wire Reports

BAYLOR

Baylor recruit says he'll go elsewhere

HOUSTON – Center Tyron Nelson of Hempstead, one of Baylor's top basketball recruits, told Houston TV station KRIV on Sunday that he will ask the school to release him from his national letter of intent.

Baylor president Robert Sloan placed the troubled program on probation for at least two years Friday and offered to allow any player to transfer after an investigation revealed that two players had their scholarships paid for by a third party and that the basketball staff knew of but did not report drug use by players. Coach Dave Bliss resigned Friday.

Nelson, who averaged 26 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks last season, said he is interested in Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. He plans to contact them, and possibly others, immediately.

Associated Press