Dave Bliss’s Recorded Attempt to Falsely Brand Patrick Dennehy a Drug Dealer

Days after Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy’s body was found in July 2003, head coach Dave Bliss was recorded proposing a false explanation for how Dennehy had paid his tuition: Players should say he had dealt drugs. The recordings, made secretly by assistant coach Abar Rouse, captured an attempt to divert investigators from improper payments within the basketball program.

“I think the thing we want to do — and you think about this — if there’s a way we can create the perception that Pat may have been a dealer,” Bliss said in an excerpt published by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Even if we had to kind of make some things look a little better than they are, that can save us.” He added, “Dennehy is never going to refute what we say.”

Dennehy had been missing for about six weeks when his body was found July 25 in a field near Baylor’s campus. An autopsy showed that he had been shot twice in the head. During the search, reports had emerged that he had received improper payments for playing basketball. On July 28, Bliss publicly denied that the program had broken NCAA rules. “We followed the rules, however difficult they may be, for 30 years,” he said.

Rouse recorded the conversations on July 30, July 31 and Aug. 1. He said he did so after Bliss told him he would lose his job if he did not help carry out the deception. Kirk Watson, who worked on Baylor’s investigation, told CNN that Rouse concealed a microcassette recorder in his pants and taped a wire to his chest.

The fabrication came with details for players to repeat: They should say they had seen Dennehy with a tray of drugs and a roll of $100 bills. Bill Underwood, chairman of Baylor’s review committee, told The Dallas Morning News that investigators also found scripts Bliss had written for players and coaches to review before speaking with authorities. The scripts included fabrications about Dennehy’s drug use.

Bliss resigned Aug. 8. Watson said the committee had evidence that Bliss had paid tuition for two players and that, when confronted, Bliss admitted making the payments through his own bank account. The recordings became public afterward, when the Star-Telegram published excerpts on Aug. 16. Rouse had turned them over to Baylor and NCAA investigators.

Watson said Bliss discussed the scheme with two or three players. Only one took the false story to investigators, and that player later recanted; Watson did not identify him. Baylor’s review committee found no evidence that Dennehy had dealt drugs.

Bliss acknowledged the attempted cover-up to the Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News. He told the Star-Telegram that the recordings were not the complete conversations but said he “was completely wrong in what I did.” He also said he had cooperated completely since resigning and would continue to do so.

Dennehy’s girlfriend, Jessica De La Rosa, answered the claim that his death left him unable to challenge the story. “When he said Patrick couldn’t refute that, he forgot something: Patrick’s other half — me,” she said. “I’m still here and I will speak for him. I will defend him with everything that I have.”