See that coach on the bench? The one with the unsoiled reputation,the good-guy image? Ivy League-educated, never takes himself tooseriously, loves the New York Yankees? A stickler for the rules justlike his mentor, Bob Knight? An affable presence as a networkanalyst? A charmer with a smile?
Well, Dave Bliss sure fooled us.
There are troubling stories in sports. And then there are theevil, slimy, despicable, sick-to-your-intestines stories that degradehumankind and involve the worst elements of political scandals andbackroom deceit. Before he resigned as basketball coach at Baylor, aBaptist-oriented university in the heart of Texas, Bliss tried tosave his hide during an NCAA investigation into improper tuitionpayments by asking two players and various assistant coaches toparticipate in a lying scheme. But this was no ordinary coverup, evenby the cesspool standards of college sports.
Bliss directed his players to defame slain teammate PatrickDennehy--allegedly killed earlier this year by another teammate,Carlton Dotson--by portraying him as a drug dealer to theuniversity's investigating committee. There is absolutely noevidence, according to Baylor officials, that Dennehy ever dealtdrugs, but that didn't stop a desperate Bliss from hatching a plot inwhich the players would claim Dennehy paid $7,000 in tuition withdrug-sales profits. In the coach's diabolical mind, it was a betteridea than simply confessing knowledge that several Baylor playersreceived illicit payments, one of numerous problems in a recklesslyspinning program rife with drug use and, ultimately, the specter ofmurder. Good Guy Dave actually had scripts for his conspirators tofollow, including one in which players would tell investigators thatDennehy kept drugs on a tray" with a roll" of $100 bills.
What we've got to create here is drugs," said Bliss, outlining hisscam.
Fortunately, a hero emerged from the slime in Waco. His name isAbar Rouse, a 28-year-old Baylor graduate who had bounced aroundsmaller college hoops programs before joining Bliss' staff as anassistant on June 1. Rouse considered it a dream job until he satdown with his boss three weeks ago and heard his first officialdirective: Protect the program (and the beleaguered coach) by rubbingout Dennehy with the drug angle. And if Rouse refused? According toRouse, Bliss pointed to a clause in his contract in which he hascomplete authority over the hiring and firing of assistants. Rousecould have grown scared and cooperated. Instead, he decided to bustBliss, recording subsequent conversations with a microcassettedevice. Little did Bliss know on July 30-31 and Aug. 1 that Rouse wastaping everything, including the damning chat with the two players inwhich they admitted smoking marijuana with Dennehy, causing Bliss touse the confession as a means of intimidation in demanding a favor.
First of all, nobody is ever going to know about the fact youmight have smoked weed with the guys," Bliss told one player in themeeting. "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 beena dealer. Even if we had to kind of make some things look a littlebetter than they are, that can save us."
Of course, this sets new lows in ruthless and calculatingbehavior, considering that just a few days earlier, Dennehy's bodywas found with two bullet holes in the head in a gravel quarry nearWaco. But somehow, Bliss sank lower in his self-induced snake pit.
You don't even have to tell me about Dotson because he's stillalive. But Dennehy is never going to refute what we say," said Bliss,with shocking insensitivity. I've got some things to say about[Dennehy], because he came in and tried to get me to help him withsomething, and I told him, I can't help you.' Now I know that tickedhim off, but he knows that's the truth. And now he's dead, so heisn't going to argue with me at all."
When news of the failed coverup broke Saturday in the Fort WorthStar-Telegram and Dallas Morning News, you figured Bliss would fleeto a secluded island. Incredibly, according to a source close to theinvestigation who spoke to the Fort Worth paper, Bliss found his owntape recorder and sought out one of the players involved in the tapedconversations. Bliss also reportedly visited the apartment of Baylorplayer Harvey Thomas and, according to Thomas' fiancee, knockedrepeatedly on the door. On one of the tapes, Bliss said Thomas wouldbe willing to lie about Dennehy because, in Bliss' view, the Baylorcoaches had remained quiet upon suggestions by Dennehy's family andfriends that Thomas had threatened Dennehy before his death.
Harvey will do anything," Bliss said. And the reason is because wedid it for Harvey. That's why we're in this jam; we stuck up forHarvey."
The lesson is to never trust a reputation. A bad guy can be soslick and cunning that he shapes himself into a good guy, especiallyin the seedy world of college athletics, where images are formed bygladhanding, cliques and easily impressionable media who makejudgments on whether a coach did or didn't say hello. If Bliss had usfooled for so long, how many other so-called good guys are foolingus? If we probed every basketball and football program in the land,wouldn't we find so much grime that we'd have to shut down collegesports indefinitely? How pathetic to see a college coach stoop into amoral gutter to save his job. These tapes are evidence of a desperateperson trying to cover up his activities," said Kirk Watson, counselfor the Baylor probe committee. It is shocking. But the good news is,it failed."
No, it's much too late for good news. It's also too late toapologize, as Bliss tried to do Saturday when he reached R.T. Guinn,one of the players in the taped meeting. The Baylor scandal onlyunderscores the putrid reality of college sports in 2003: Few, ifany, coaches can be trusted in a teen's living room. You know what?Somebody is going down, because that is bull talking like that,especially trying to besmirch my son's name when he is dead," saidBrian Brabazon, Dennehy's stepfather, in a Star-Telegram interview. Iknew Bliss was hiding something. God, what was he thinking? All I canthink right now is that I would like to grab the guy by the shirtcollar and throw him up against the wall."
In a sordid year for prime-time college coaches, the Bliss Abyssis the topper. One could argue Mike Price, Larry Eustachy and RickNeuheisel eventually deserve new chances, but this man's employmentdoor should be permanently locked. Bliss? Isn't that a term ofhappiness, peace, paradise?
Never has a name been a bigger lie.
No comments:
Post a Comment