Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Baylor University Under Scrutiny
Aired August 19, 2003 - 13:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Just a short time ago, a judge in Maryland gave Texas more time to extradite Carlton Dotson to face charges that he murdered Baylor basketball teammate, Patrick Dennehy. The judge ordered Dotson held in Maryland another 60 days.
Dotson and Dennehy were friends, when Dotson allegedly shot Dennehy during target practice in a field near Waco.
Baylor University's basketball program and its former coach remain under intense scrutiny now. Investigators say that they're pursuing new leads from those audiotapes that show Dave Bliss trying to cover up NCAA violations.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is following all of this from Waco, Texas. He joins us live -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, the strange thing, in the words of one investigator here that is working on behalf of the university into NCAA rules violations in the Baylor basketball program, is that before these taped conversations between Coach Bliss -- Dave Bliss and one of his assistant coaches that had came forward, that they say they already discovered the violations that Coach Bliss, they say, was trying to cover up.
In fact, the university investigators were saying that they have uncovered two cases where two players, including Patrick Dennehy, were being improperly paid -- their tuition was being paid for while they played Baylor basketball. And that, they say, is what Coach Dave Bliss was trying to cover up.
In these conversations, Coach Bliss says: "We can get out of this. Reasonable doubt is there's nobody right now that can say that we paid Pat Dennehy, because he's dead. So, what we have to do is create the reasonable doubt."
And what the investigators and what the people who have heard these taped conversations are saying is that Coach Bliss created a pattern and then tried to create the stories and tried to convince players and assistant coaches, according to two newspapers that have published the transcripts of these conversations, is that Dave Bliss was trying to portray Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer. Bliss says -- he hasn't been able to comment to us so far -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera following that investigation, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 19, 2003 - 13:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Just a short time ago, a judge in Maryland gave Texas more time to extradite Carlton Dotson to face charges that he murdered Baylor basketball teammate, Patrick Dennehy. The judge ordered Dotson held in Maryland another 60 days.
Dotson and Dennehy were friends, when Dotson allegedly shot Dennehy during target practice in a field near Waco.
Baylor University's basketball program and its former coach remain under intense scrutiny now. Investigators say that they're pursuing new leads from those audiotapes that show Dave Bliss trying to cover up NCAA violations.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is following all of this from Waco, Texas. He joins us live -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, the strange thing, in the words of one investigator here that is working on behalf of the university into NCAA rules violations in the Baylor basketball program, is that before these taped conversations between Coach Bliss -- Dave Bliss and one of his assistant coaches that had came forward, that they say they already discovered the violations that Coach Bliss, they say, was trying to cover up.
In fact, the university investigators were saying that they have uncovered two cases where two players, including Patrick Dennehy, were being improperly paid -- their tuition was being paid for while they played Baylor basketball. And that, they say, is what Coach Dave Bliss was trying to cover up.
In these conversations, Coach Bliss says: "We can get out of this. Reasonable doubt is there's nobody right now that can say that we paid Pat Dennehy, because he's dead. So, what we have to do is create the reasonable doubt."
And what the investigators and what the people who have heard these taped conversations are saying is that Coach Bliss created a pattern and then tried to create the stories and tried to convince players and assistant coaches, according to two newspapers that have published the transcripts of these conversations, is that Dave Bliss was trying to portray Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer. Bliss says -- he hasn't been able to comment to us so far -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera following that investigation, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
