BLISS COVER-UP TAPES HAVE UNIVERSITY, CITY REELING

One day after Baylor University, Waco and the Big 12 conference were rocked
by revelations of a cover-up scheme involving a dead basketball player,
former coach Dave Bliss' reputation appeared to be hanging by a thin piece
of cassette tape.

Baylor officials scrambled to make statements, friends and family members
of the dead ballplayer fumed aloud, and attorneys and law enforcement
officials sought to justify their investigations in the midst of mounting
controversy.

As scandal dominated the world's largest Baptist university, Jim Pate, a
prominent member of the Golden Bears, a group often critical of President
Robert B. Sloan Jr.'s administration, appealed to the state attorney
general to replace Sloan and the regents.

"The attorney general should immediately appoint a five-person oversight
committee to assume the management of Baylor," Baylor alumnus Jim Pate
wrote. "The recommendations made to the attorney general by this committee
will serve as counsel for Baylor in the future.

"This unprecedented action will be the only salvation of Baylor," Pate said.

Baylor spokesman Larry Brumley said the weekend salvo from Pate -- a
frequent critic of Sloan and his tenure -- came as no surprise.

Confusion reigned in the case of Baylor's beleaguered basketball program
before Friday night when secretly recorded tapes appeared to reveal Coach
Bliss orchestrating a cover-up campaign to protect himself, his coaching
staff and Baylor's basketball program.

Tapes recorded secretly by newly hired assistant coach Abar Rouse suggest
Bliss tried to enlist at least three ballplayers in a scheme to convince
investigators that slain Baylor ballplayer Patrick Dennehy paid his tuition
by dealing drugs.

The tapes also reveal Bliss was aware of marijuana use on the Baylor team
and that he was aware of threats allegedly made against Dennehy, despite
public statements in which Bliss denied any knowledge of drug use or
threats involving his team.

In the recorded conversations, Bliss also sought to convince ballplayers
that law enforcement officials and top Baylor officials were solidly behind
efforts to pin blame for NCAA violations involving money payments on
Dennehy and drug-dealing.

"Yesterday's revelations of a taped meeting involving Dave Bliss are a
sobering and disturbing development in an already tragic story," Baylor
President Sloan said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon.

"Dave Bliss' attempts to conceal from investigators the truth about
improprieties in our men's basketball program represent a profound betrayal
of the trust that Baylor University and our players placed in him. I am
outraged not only by his own deception but his efforts to enlist players
and assistant coaches in this scheme."

Bliss did not return phone calls to the Tribune-Herald.

Waco Police Chief Alberto Melis said his department's criminal
investigation into Dennehy's death was never focused on Dennehy and drugs
and away from other aspects to assist Bliss or anyone else at Baylor.

"As far as us slanting in any way, shape or form an investigation to assist
Coach Bliss or Baylor in any way, shape or form, absolutely not," Melis
said. "We were investigating a homicide."

He called the idea that police would slant evidence to help Baylor's
basketball program "absurd."

David Guinn, a member of Baylor's investigative committee, expressed
astonishment at Bliss' notion that the committee -- made up of three Baylor
law professors as well as former Austin mayor Kirk Watson -- would buckle
under any scheme mounted by Bliss.

"I cannot comprehend him (Bliss) thinking we would be anything but fair and
objective," Guinn said. "We have tried to convey that to all the people
we've interviewed. We've tried to enter this investigation without any
preconceived idea of who's guilty or not guilty. I can't say it with any
more candor than that."

Guinn said he believes Bliss mentioned the backing of the Baylor hierarchy
- -- including Guinn's fellow committee member, Bill Underwood -- as a
manipulative "ruse" to get ballplayers to cooperate with his cover-up scheme.

"We've certainly made no conveyance to him that would indicate we're
anything other than an impartial tribunal trying to get to the bottom of
things," he said. "Bill Underwood has been as fair and judicious as any
supreme court justice could be, by way of analogy."

Asked if the committee is sharing information with Dr. Sloan as it proceeds
with the investigation, Guinn said: "We have indeed kept Dr. Sloan informed
of findings along the way, and we will continue to do so."

Asked whether that information is being shared with regents, Guinn said Dr.
Sloan would need to address that.

Underwood, who said the situation was further fractured when he was
misquoted by the Dallas Morning News while summarizing Bliss' taped
statements, said Bliss was quizzed about his comments to players Friday.

"He (Bliss) was asked about that last night when he talked to NCAA
investigators," Underwood told the Tribune-Herald . "He said he meant we
all believed him -- in other words, that he hadn't paid the tuition."

While praising the investigative work of his fellow committee members,
Watson cautioned against those who might take Bliss at his word in the tapes.

"If you listen to these tapes, what I think we're hearing is an effort to
tell these players to embellish their stories," Watson said. "It's using
people's names who are in a position of authority -- that they are on your
side, so it's OK to do that. It's an effort to make (the ballplayers)
comfortable to pull them into the cover-up. It's a common practice of those
who try to cover up."

This weekend's revelations come amid Baylor's darkest summer. It began with
Dennehy's disappearance in mid-June, allegations that his tuition and
living expenses were being funded by coaches even though Dennehy was not on
scholarship, and the discovery of Dennehy's body on July 25.

Former teammate Carlton Dotson has been charged with shooting Dennehy to death.

Meanwhile, until his resignation a week ago, Bliss continued to deny that
any of his ballplayers were involved in drug usage or that any illegal
payments were made to his student-athletes.

As the sun set on Baylor Saturday evening, many students were still
catching up on the latest bombshell to hit the university. Some said they
were surprised at the secret tapes and Bliss' scheme because he was
respected around campus.

Many said the coach should face consequences.

"It's sad that there's an ethical compromise there, especially tainting a
dead person's name," graduate student Daniel Haynes said. "I mean, it's bad
enough you were trying to make a cover-up for why the basketball players
are being paid, but to taint a dead person's image is, I think, unfair."

Liz Eddy, a sophomore, said she'd heard positive things about Bliss while
at Baylor and was surprised by the tapes.

"I just really thought that Coach Bliss was a good guy," Eddy said. "That
just really shocks me. I can't believe it on top of everything that's
happened."

Richard Guinn, father of Baylor ballplayer R.T. Guinn, said their faith in
Bliss had been shaken.

"We're all highly upset, shocked and disappointed with Coach Bliss if
that's what happened," Guinn said. "From what I knew of him, it's out of
character."

Meanwhile, Brian Brabazon, of Carson City, Nev., stepfather of the slain
ballplayer, added anger to his astonishment.

"My son is dead and (Bliss is) saying this about him?" Brabazon said. "My
son was clean. He didn't have any drugs in his body. What do you mean
saying he was paying for college by selling drugs?

"Was he some sort of drug lord?" Brabazon said. "He'd have to be to make
enough to pay to go to that school. (Bliss) is just dragging my son's name
through the mud for his own gain."

Baylor Board of Regents Chairman Drayton McLane Jr. conceded in a statement
Saturday he didn't quite know what to expect next in the investigation.

"In fact, I have to tell you that early Friday afternoon Dr. Sloan and I
spoke and we said this Friday certainly seemed to be a better day than last
Friday," McLane said. "That was before we learned about these new developments.

"Is this the end of stunning revelations?" he said. "I hope so. I don't know."

Miguel Liscano and Terri Jo Ryan contributed to this story.