Intramural prison team cool to Bliss!

Cooley · August 30, 2003

Posted on Sat, Aug. 30, 2003

Bliss seeking a role?

Ex-coach unlikely to be accepted for volunteer position

By Jeff Caplan

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

WACO - Former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss twice this week toured the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility and expressed interest in becoming a volunteer in the intramural athletic program, facility superintendent John Hopkins said.

The facility in Mart, about 20 miles east of Waco, houses incarcerated youth and attempts to steer them toward a better quality of life upon release.

In his four years as Baylor coach, Bliss never visited the facility, Hopkins said. Bliss left with a volunteer application in hand, but Hopkins said Bliss has not filed the application with the facility's volunteer coordinator.

"He said he felt pretty much all his life had been done for him and now he wanted to do for someone else," Hopkins said. "He has come out here twice, he has looked around, he has talked about areas that he might plug into. I doubt that anything will come out of it."

If not, it probably will be because of the ongoing investigation at Baylor involving NCAA violations and the former coach's attempted scheme to portray slain player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer. A secret tape made by a former assistant coach on Bliss' staff revealed that Bliss tried to incorporate three players into his scheme. Bliss instructed the players to embellish stories in an attempt to lead investigators to believe that Dennehy was paying for his Baylor tuition by selling drugs.

A possibility remains that criminal charges could be levied against Bliss.

"And, for that reason, I think that probably he won't be coming out here in the very near future," Hopkins said. "That's one of the things we'll have to evaluate if, in fact, he does turn in an application."

Bliss resigned Aug. 8 after a Baylor inquiry found major violations of NCAA rules. Allegations of wrongdoing within the basketball program surfaced during the police investigation into the death of Dennehy. The player's onetime teammate and friend, Carlton Dotson, was indicted on a murder charge by a McLennan County grand jury Wednesday. Dotson remains jailed in Maryland, his home state.

Hopkins said Bliss "seemed fine to me," but he characterized Bliss' demeanor as being "a little humbled."

The McLennan County State Juvenile Correction Facility offers intramural athletics, including basketball, softball, soccer and football. It does not offer high school-type athletic programs such as those at the Giddings State School and Gainesville State School, which both field athletic teams that participate in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools league.

If Bliss does turn in the application, Hopkins said it would be assessed just as any other volunteer application, subject to background checks, reference checks and a review by the volunteer coordinator. Hopkins said a checkered past would not necessarily disqualify an applicant. For example, the facility often brings in reformed drug addicts to speak to youths in the facility's chemical dependency unit.

The problem with Bliss at this time, Hopkins said, is that "his checkered past is the present."

However, Hopkins said that if Bliss remains in the area once the investigation is completed, he would consider bringing Bliss on as a volunteer if the former coach is still willing.

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Jeff Caplan, (817) 390-7760 jcaplan@star-telegram.com