Ignorance is Bliss

Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss was in a no-win situation during his press conference Monday.\nHe could either deny allegations of there being a drug problem on his team and that he offered to pay room and board to the late Patrick Dennehy to play next season off-scholarship -- he already sat out this past year due to transfer rules after leaving New Mexico -- so he could bring in a hotter prospect, or he could say all he was thinking about was Dennehy and his friends and family and that it was inappropriate to be concerned with anything else. Had he said something like that, people might have criticized him for avoiding major issues in his program.\nBliss chose the former option. After all, self-preservation is an innate instinct among college basketball coaches.\nFurthermore, the pile of those making allegations is beginning to get eye-high. A three-person committee consisting of Baylor law school professors plans on investigating three matters: whether Dennehy received money from a coach to pay for auto repairs, whether Dennehy received money from a coach to help obtain an auto loan and whether the coaching staff offered to pay Dennehy's tuition and education expenses if he would be willing to yield his scholarship.\nThis comes amidst a report by ESPN that Carlton Dotson, the man accused of murdering Dennehy, failed one drug test and didn't show up for another. Bliss said Dotson decided to leave the program by mutual agreement due to concerns over playing time. Also, Dennehy's former girlfriend said the player occasionally smoked marijuana.\nWith the allegations and reports piling up, Bliss' days at Baylor figure to be numbered. If it was just one jealous voice, Bliss and his staff could bat it down. If many people come forward like they are now, then you either have a highly unlikely conspiracy or a dirty coach.\nBliss, an IU assistant from 1972-1975 who also worked for Bob Knight at Army, hasn't made the NCAA Tournament in four years at Baylor. This hardly strengthens his appeal. \nSadly, this isn't a first-time offense, as Baylor's basketball program ran afoul of NCAA regulations in 1986 and 1994. In 1986, it was the usual: payments and extra benefits to players, yada yada yada. In 1994, the coaching staff got much more creative and much more transgressive. Three assistant coaches were convicted of mail and wire fraud in helping players pass correspondence courses; meanwhile, the school fired coach Darrel Johnson.\nLooking back, the NCAA scrutiny was inevitable. Where there's gunsmoke, there's NCAA rule violations. After all, many media outlets flocked to Waco, Texas, to report on the Dennehy story, especially prior to the finding of his body. They want to talk to friends, relatives, roommates and acquaintances to see what Dennehy was like. Talk to enough people and you get an ugly-looking mosaic of graft.\nAccording to The Associated Press, Dennehy all but told his girlfriend at the time that he had decided on Baylor because the coaching staff promised to buy him an SUV. The Dallas Morning News reported Dennehy got a ride from an assistant coach from Albuquerque to Waco, also violating NCAA rules.\nSurely, NCAA rules violations are secondary to murder. Heck, new Kansas coach Bill Self recently said in an interview that not only did his Illinois program commit 20 minor violations while he was there from 2000-2003, but that he was proud he reported it because every school commits some minor rules violation but not everybody reports it. (Illinois received no sanctions for the violations.) So whoever did wrong in the Baylor program has far less to repent over than the man who shot Dennehy in the head. \nBut sometimes the worst thing a coach can do is turn his head and not look. Bliss said he would give a random drug test to a player if the player made him suspicious. But not every player is Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." It's not easy to tell if a person has smoked pot sometimes.\nIn his book "My Life on a Napkin," Utah coach Rick Majerus said he would call a player into his office and scold the player if he hadn't completed a paper or course assignment, shocking the player who thought Majerus would have no idea.\nIn 1998, Utah made the national championship game with two first-team Academic All-Americans, Drew Hansen and Michael Doleac, in their starting five.\nIf he cared only a fraction as much, Dave Bliss never would have been in a no-win situation.