Monday, June 5, 2017

Disgraced

Jaffus Harddick.

Recently Dave Bliss (age 73) was fired/resigned as a college basketball coach at another Christian college.  He was hired after the 10-year show cause prohibition ended.

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article3835097.html

It is an old story and Coach K and many others are deservedly smeared too.  But the Showtime documentary is amazing.






http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/article3835097.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/28/sports/college-basketball-death-and-deception.html





The word "inspirational" appears several times.

If you look at it from the perspective of a Michigan basketball follower it adds up differently.  One thing, at the outset, is Michigan put together a similar fab five and got caught too.

At Baylor, the largest Baptist..., it goes way back and the pre-Bliss 1995 scandal is yet another one to revisit.  Throw in Bobby Knight.  Stunning this year's team was even allowed in the NCAA tournament.  At least in my memory they've always been teams of second chances and piecing together.

Dave Bliss.  Patrick Dennehy wasn't even a scholarship player.  They were going to be good.

Motive?  Carlton Dotson wasn't going to play.  The eight-month marriage.  Apparently he was going to transfer again.

A relative of his in Maryland or Delaware contacted the police.  Abar Rouse went to the newspaper.

Anyway, Dave Bliss was the ringleader.  Basketball scholarships--and his own salary--were his currency.

It is a good story, but the one about Abar Rouse has been around for quite a while.  And it missed the basketball recruiting and team-building part of it.  None of the three players highlighted appear to be real solid citizens, as are the other two assistant coaches penalized severely by the NCAA.

New Mexico basketball, or Albuquerque, is still a place you go to if you're running away from something worse.  Baylor too?  You have to have a need for redemption.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/2003/08/18/picture-imperfect-mystery-surrounds-ex-baylor-player/5717c8d5-7080-432d-abea-291e0c625e2f/?utm_term=.14a4ccb3c902

https://www.si.com/vault/2003/07/14/346165/the-sadness-at-baylor-the-case-of-patrick-dennehy-has-remained-as-elusive-as-the-player-himself

https://www.si.com/vault/2003/07/14/346165/the-sadness-at-baylor-the-case-of-patrick-dennehy-has-remained-as-elusive-as-the-player-himself

http://hoopshd.com/2017/05/16/a-matter-of-basketball-and-death-hoopshd-interviews-disgraced-director-pat-kondelis/

Baylor RisingMore.

These players were scared for their scholarships.  Carlton Dotson had lost his scholarship, and with it his apartment and car plus other perks.  These players didn't have any money?

Perhaps another time, a closer look into Dave Bliss's rosters, you see the team wasn't filled, e.g., Wendell Greenleaf (sexual assault).

Who has come to Dave Bliss's defense or aid?  Virtually no one.  He used-up student basketball players and employers.

Here's what happened with Carlton Dotson and Baylor:  he was around so much talk about angels and devils that he actually did start seeing angels and devils.

P.S. It was a well-disguised promo and not the whole Showtime show but Youtube took it down.


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