Baylor Almost Hit with Death Penalty

[sterlingice]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2093250

Thursday, June 23, 2005
NCAA puts school on probation through 2010
Associated Press

Baylor escaped the so-called death penalty but will have to play one shortened men's basketball season and remain on probation through 2010, the NCAA said Thursday in releasing the findings of its investigation into former coach Dave Bliss' scandal-plagued program.

Gene Marsh, chair of the Division I Committee on Infractions and a professor of law at the University of Alabama, said he believes it is the first time the NCAA has instituted a partial ban on games in basketball.

He said the committee seriously considered shutting down Baylor's program but that self-imposed sanctions in the wake of the revelations spared the Waco school.

"As a repeat violator, they were subject to the death penalty," Marsh said. "Their penalties and their approach saved their basketball season."

Baylor was considered a repeat offender because the tennis program received sanctions in 2000 for improper financial aid and extra benefits.

The NCAA has used the death penalty only once -- on the SMU football program in the late 1980s.

The NCAA gave Baylor the option of canceling its non-conference schedule, usually about 15 games a year, this season or next. Baylor's interim president, William D. Underwood, said the Bears would play the shortened season this year.

The Bears will be allowed to play the Big 12 Conference regular season and postseason tournament. Although the team will be eligible for NCAA postseason play, it will be difficult to gain enough wins to make the NCAA or NIT tournaments without non-conference games.

Last week, Carlton Dotson, 23, was sentenced to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in the death of Patrick Dennehy, a killing that led to revelations of wrongdoing in Baylor's program. Dennehy was missing for six weeks before his body was found in July 2003 in a field where the best friends had gone to shoot guns at targets.

By August, Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton had resigned in the wake of numerous allegations of NCAA violations.

School investigators later discovered that Bliss paid up to $40,000 in tuition for two players and improperly solicited $87,000 from Baylor boosters. The probe also revealed that staff members did not properly report some players' failed drug tests.

The infractions led to self-imposed sanctions, including a three-year probation, reduced scholarships and reduced contact between coaches and recruits. The school also banned itself from postseason play in the 2003-2004 season, and all players were offered a release from their scholarships.

The NCAA adopted many of Baylor's self-imposed sanctions with Thursday's ruling, although Baylor's reductions in recruiting visits and coaches who can leave campus to recruit were extended by a year.

"This is the final step in bringing a two-year scandal to a close for the university," Underwood said. "It will never close for some individuals, including the Patrick Dennehy family and the Carlton Dotson family, but this is the final piece in moving beyond the scandal."

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions found intentional violations by coaches and attempts to cover up those violations. That led to a conclusion of unethical conduct by Bliss and three former assistants.

Any NCAA school that wants to hire Bliss in the next 10 years must appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine limitations on his activities. One former assistant will be subject to this procedure for seven years and two others for five years.

"He attempted to try to cover up what had occurred to the point of making people practice and record their statements like in a high school play," Marsh said of Bliss. "It's about as bad as it gets."

Marsh said Baylor's violations were "as serious" as those in the SMU football program when the Dallas school received the death penalty.

The scandal is the second to rock the basketball program in the last decade.

In 1994, Baylor reduced scholarships, banned itself from postseason play and television appearances and placed itself under a two-year probation after a recruiting and academic fraud scandal under former coach Darrel Johnson.

The NCAA's findings also revealed academic fraud by three Baylor football players.

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Ok, I'm torn on this. I mean, geez: a player died! How does a program not get the death penalty for that. Then again, it seems like Baylor got caught doing a bunch of other things that just do ooze that "lack institutional control" that the NCAA loves to hammer people for.

That said, if this is going on at Baylor... BAYLOR, last in the Big XII in everything except women's hoops (and apparently tennis). Makes you wonder how much is getting covered up everywhere else. Gotta love the "also revealed academic fraud by three Baylor football players"- kindof like they want to point out everything they found including the kitchen sink. Three players sounds like a slow day in the SEC. But this just seems like the big bad NCAA going after piddly little Baylor because they can- better go after the little program and almost death penalty them because they're small, unimportant, and can't cover it up because they don't have nearly as much practice at it.

SI

[Suicane75]

I know he's a bad coach and all, but this is cruel.

[Easy Mac]

well, if Murder doesn't scream lack of institutional control... nothing does.

[Joe]

they should shut the school down

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

BAYLOR, last in the Big XII in everything except women's hoops (and apparently tennis).

They went to the College World Series, too. They were terrible in women's basketball and baseball until very recently and have progressed rapidly in both. Really, outside of the atrocious football program and the basketball players murdering their teammates, they're experiencing an athletic renaissance.

[sooner333]

Remember they did have John Lucas and Lawrence Roberts, two huge players on two NCAA tournament teams before they transferred.

[timmynausea]

I figured since it was Texas that they might literally get the death penalty.

[MylesKnight]

I for one am fairly surprised by the extended penalties that the NCAA handed out to Baylor. The school seemed to have punished itself pretty severly already, and although the NCAA was right in stepping in with additional punishment, the severity of it was a bit confusing considering other recent NCAA issues.

Consider the recent troubles at the Universities of Alabama and Kentucky. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Alabama a repeat offender as well? What they received, loss of scholarships and a few other minor stipulations, was not even remotely comparible to Baylor's punishment.

I believe that it all boils down to the NCAA treating individual institutionals differently. I agree that Baylor deserved punishment and I feel that NCAA needs to get tougher on cheaters... But why treat Alabama and Kentucky differently than Baylor, who have had nearly half of their 2005-'06 Men's Basketball Season taken away?

[Balldog]

Actually Baylor is quite successful at most sports, with exception of Football and now Men's Basketball.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

well, if Murder doesn't scream lack of institutional control... nothing does.

Yeah, but murder is the commission on one person. You can't predict if one nut is going to join your program. I think lack of institutional control requires a pattern of repeat offenses of the same type. Nothing is of the same type as murder unless they were routinely (a couple of times) covering up rapes and assaults by their players. I always think of lack of institutional control as some booster paying players to come there or a system to get homework done for multple players- something where there's a system by which the infractions take place. It's like saying if Charlie Weis goes out on a shooting spree, and god knows he'll want to in a couple of years, that the Domers should be given the death penalty because they hired a nut.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Myles -- Maybe because there hasn't been a murder involved in the violations at UK or Alabama?

Just a guess.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Myles -- Maybe because there hasn't been a murder involved in the violations at UK or Alabama?

Just a guess.

I don't think the murder was as much a reason for these penalities as the media seems to be implying. Having a player go nuts and kill someone is not an NCAA rules violation. Wasn't the issue here Bliss paying player's tuitions, covering up failed drug tests, and then lying about the cover ups? The murder was sort of the sexy news hook that made Baylor look even worse - and probably helped the NCAA justify penalties that were far more severe than what other schools get for similar crimes.

[Young Drachma]

Bliss tried to cover up the murder. He's lucky he's not in jail, rather than retiring early on his coach salary over the years.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Bliss tried to cover up the murder. He's lucky he's not in jail, rather than retiring early on his coach salary over the years.

This has always been the implication, but it's just not literally true, otherwise, there certainly would be more serious personal consequences for Bliss. The best the family of the victim has been able to do is sue Bliss for "creating an unsafe environment" that eventually led to the murder.

When Bliss told his players to tell authorities that Dotson was a drug dealer, this was to allegedly to lead investigators away from the truth about tuition payments and unreported failed drug tests.

Not that I'm sticking up for the guy, but I find it interesting how this shows the media's power to mislead and create implications.

[Kodos]

Maybe we can just hold the program in perpetuity at Guantanamo, rather than giving it the death penalty.

[TargetPractice6]

Originally Posted by MylesKnight

I for one am fairly surprised by the extended penalties that the NCAA handed out to Baylor. The school seemed to have punished itself pretty severly already, and although the NCAA was right in stepping in with additional punishment, the severity of it was a bit confusing considering other recent NCAA issues.

Consider the recent troubles at the Universities of Alabama and Kentucky. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Alabama a repeat offender as well? What they received, loss of scholarships and a few other minor stipulations, was not even remotely comparible to Baylor's punishment.

I believe that it all boils down to the NCAA treating individual institutionals differently. I agree that Baylor deserved punishment and I feel that NCAA needs to get tougher on cheaters... But why treat Alabama and Kentucky differently than Baylor, who have had nearly half of their 2005-'06 Men's Basketball Season taken away?

A few other minor stipulations? Such as a post season ban? Kentucky went 7-5 a few seasons ago, our only winning season in the last 5 years, but could not accept a bowl bid. As a fan I've never really considered that minor, especially since it is rare that Kentucky wins enough to go to a bowl game (even more so now that we are trying to recover from the effects or probation).

[Leonidas]

My first thought seeing this thread listed: "Don Baylor killed somebody?"

[Izulde]

When a program is given the death penalty is it killed forever? Or can they appeal after a set number of years to get it back?

[timmynausea]

It's not forever. I don't know how they decide how long it is.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Izulde

When a program is given the death penalty is it killed forever? Or can they appeal after a set number of years to get it back?

Originally Posted by story

The NCAA has used the death penalty only once -- on the SMU football program in the late 1980s.

The death penalty means not being allowed to have said program, but it's not indefinitely. SMU had to give theirs up for one year and had numerous other sanctions. That said, the program still hasn't recovered.

SI

[MylesKnight]

Speaking of Baylor, the Bears Men's Hoops team begins their season on Wednesday Night against Texas Tech.

One of Baylor's sanctions for Men's Basketball was that they were not allowed to play non-conference games in either the '05-'06 season or the '06-'07 season. The coaching staff chose to get it over with, so this year's regular season schedule consists of 16 Big XII games, and that's it.

Interesting thing here; BU is still eligible for postseason play... So hypothetically, let's say the Bears go 11-5 or so during the season and then lose in say the Semifinals of the Big XII Tourney.. Would a 12-6 record warrant a trip to the Big Dance?

What about a 9-7 BU team that loses in Round #1 of the Big 12 Tourney? Would this team be NIT Bound at 9-8?

It could very well happen.

[sooner333]

Baylor isn't half bad this year, especially in this watered down Big 12. They won't have the game experience, but they have a lot more scholarship players this year, and the Aussie Aaron Bruce is back as a Sophomore and very good. Drew is doing what he did well at Valpo and that is get the foreign guys. While losing out on probation, their coach, and their star players was tough...Baylor could be winning out in the long run with Drew and fundamental basketball.

[kcchief19]

There's been some debate in Big XII country about the Bears. There are plenty of people saying this sanction gives Baylor a huge benefit in that come March they will be fresh when everyone else is wearing down. There are also people making the case that Baylor will be able to surprise some people over the next few weeks because no one will have tape on tape on them and know what they can or can't do. Baylor actually has some talent and a very sharp young basketball coach.

Hypothetically, I don't think anything short of a 14-2 Big XII season and a strong run in the tournament gets them into the NCAA. It will be interesting to see how they rate in the RPI if they do have a winning record. They will probably need to win an automatic bid.

I think they'll need upwards of 12-plus wins to get into the NIT. I just don't see either tournament giving them a get out of jail free card without an incredible run.

They might win their first game on pure emotion, but I think they'll struggle through the first half of the Big XII season until they gel against some competition. They may very well surprise some people later in the season once they get their legs under them and they are fresh and everyone else is wearing down.

[st.cronin]

Are they even eligible for postseason? I would have thought that was part of their punishment - no tournament play.

[MylesKnight]

They are eligible... Very strange the way this worked out..

By the way, what is the main Big XII Message Board? Never seen that one before. Thanks!

[st.cronin]

That's crazy. So, hypothetically, Baylor, on probation through 2010, could win the NCAA tournament and be crowned champions.

[sterlingice]

Baylor may be good, but I don't think they're going to be in the top 4 in the Big XII and anything below that is going to likely be on the bubble this year with the conference down somewhat. As much as having fresh legs, etc, is going to help, not having played games prior to the season is going to hurt, I would think. No experience in close games or games at all just can't be that good.

SI

[DookieMowf]

BTW...Im a Baylor fan, been in Waco my whole life. They had a top 15 recuriting class for this year, with just two guys for the 2006 class they were arleady penciled in for a top 15 class and already working hard on a top class for 2007.

Scott Drew and compnay have done an excellent job with recuiting, espec giving the circumstances. The team will be a major player in the next few seasons and im so excited.

[sooner333]

Originally Posted by MylesKnight

By the way, what is the main Big XII Message Board? Never seen that one before. Thanks!

There is a big 12 forum at a site I help run...kind of self promotion here, but we started during the football season and already have a pretty good following on our boards. the link is http://www.big12-fans.com give it a shot.