Pubdate: Sat, 16 Aug 2003
Source: Beaumont Enterprise (TX)
=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=8
Copyright: 2003 Beaumont Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1024
Author: Jim Vertuno

TAPES REVEAL EX-BAYLOR COACH TOLD PLAYERS TO LIE ABOUT DENNEHY

Former Baylor University basketball coach Dave Bliss tried to cover up
allegations of NCAA violations by telling assistant coaches and players to
lie to investigators and say a slain player had been dealing drugs to pay
for school, secretly recorded audiotapes reveal.

The recordings of Bliss were made by an assistant coach, who turned them
over to Baylor and NCAA investigators on Friday.

"The tapes reveal a desperate man trying to figure out how to cover himself
and to cover up" NCAA violations, said Kirk Watson, counsel for Baylor's
in-house investigations committee.

Copies of the tapes were obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which
published transcripts Saturday.

Baylor Board of Regents Chairman Drayton McLane Jr., said the university was
"crushed" by Bliss's actions and said the investigation will continue.

"Is this the end of stunning revelations? I hope so. I don't know," McLane
said. "We will get the answers, and we won't rest until we do."

Bliss talked to two or three players about the scheme, although only one
took the phony story to investigators and he has since recanted. Watson
would not identify the player.

Although players are not under oath when talking to investigators, the NCAA
code of ethics requires athletes to tell the truth, Watson said.

Neither Bliss nor any of his assistant coaches actually used the fake story
with investigators, Watson said.

The review committee found no evidence Patrick Dennehy was involved in drug
dealing. Dennehy's body was found in a field outside Waco on July 25, died
from two gunshot wounds to the head.

An autopsy found no alcohol, opiates, amphetamines or barbiturates in his
system, but his body was too decomposed to test for marijuana.

Watson said the tapes would be turned over to prosecutors to determine
whether Bliss's cover-up attempt could bring criminal charges.

The Dallas Morning News reported on its online edition for Sunday that Bliss
attempted to talk to at least two players Saturday morning after the tapes
were revealed. The newspaper cited an anonymous source saying Bliss
approached one unidentified player with a tape recorder.

Bliss also visited the apartment of Baylor player Harvey Thomas, knocking
repeatedly on the door, according to the player's fiancee, Sheena Devese who
shares the apartment. The couple did not answer, the newspaper reported.

Bliss told the newspaper Friday that players R.T. Guinn and Ellis Kidd, Jr.
had been present at meetings when he discussed the drug story.

Ellis Kidd Sr. told the Morning News he talked with Baylor officials Friday
night and had been advised not to comment.

Guinn's father, Richard Guinn, said "We haven't done anything wrong. We
aren't going to lie for anybody or cover up anything."

Neither Bliss nor assistant coach Abar Rouse, who made the tapes, could be
reached for comment Saturday. An AP reporter went to Bliss's home where no
one answered the door and the blinds were drawn.

Bliss, however, has acknowledged the cover up to the Star-Telegram and The
Dallas Morning News.

"The bizarre circumstances painted me into a corner and I chose the wrong
way to react," he said. "I have cooperated completely and will continue to
do so because I have disappointed a lot of people."

Bliss was among 10 Baylor officials to attend Dennehy's memorial service on
Aug. 7, the day before he resigned as coach.

"I keep going back to him shaking my hand and me thanking him for coming,"
Dennehy's stepfather, Brian Brabazon, said in a telephone interview Saturday
after learning of the tapes. "Had I had even an inkling of this, I would
have grabbed his hand and his throat and thrown him against the wall and
beat him."

Brabazon said the family would seek legal action against Baylor.

"I'm going to find somebody that's going to be able to stand up to the
world's biggest Baptist college," he said.

Earlier this month, Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. said an internal
review committee had found that two players had received improper tuition
payments and that Bliss had admitted involvement.

The tapes, however, reveal an attempt to divert investigators away from the
improper payments.

"What we've got to create here is drugs," Bliss is heard saying on one tape.
"I think the thing we want to do _ and you think about this _ if there's a
way we can create the perception that Pat may have been a dealer .. that can
save us."

He also called himself a victim of circumstance.

"It's not like we created his situation," Bliss said. "We're the victims. If
you read the papers ... I'm the bad guy."

Bliss suggested that players tell investigators they saw Dennehy with a
"tray" containing a variety of drugs and with a "roll" of $100 bills.

Bliss said Dennehy couldn't deny the allegations because he was dead.

"When he said Patrick couldn't refute that, he forgot something: Patrick's
other half _ me. I'm still here and I will speak for him. I will defend him
with everything that I have," Dennehy's girlfriend, Jessica De La Rosa, said
Saturday.

Bill Underwood, a member of the Baylor internal committee, told the Morning
News that the panel also found that Bliss wrote scripts for players and
coaches to review before talking with authorities. The scripts included
fabrications alluding to drug use by Dennehy.

The tapes also apparently show that Bliss knew some players smoked marijuana
and that Baylor coaches lied when they denied knowledge that Thomas had
threatened Dennehy before Dennehy's disappearance.

In one conversation, Bliss indicated Thomas would be willing to lie about
Dennehy's activities because Baylor coaches had publicly said they knew
nothing about Thomas' threats.

"Harvey will do anything," Bliss told Rouse. "And the reason is because we
did it for Harvey."

Thomas has denied the threats or any involvement in Dennehy's death. A
former teammate, Carlton Dotson, has been charged with Dennehy's murder.
Dotson remains jailed in his home state of Maryland awaiting extradition.

Rouse, who joined Baylor on June 1, said he made the secret recordings July
30-31 and Aug. 1 after Bliss told him he would lose his job if he didn't
help carry out the deception.
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