Baylor coach, AD resign amidst violations 08/09/2003 By RANA L. CASH / The Dallas Morning News Embattled Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss announced his resignation Friday and president Robert Sloan accepted the resignation of athletic director Tom Stanton during a hastily called afternoon press conference in Waco, Texas. Sloan also announced that he has played the Baylor basketball program on probation for a minimum of two years for what he deemed “major” violations involving financial aid and scholarship distribution and drug use. Baylor will not be eligible to participate in the 2003-04 postseason, included the Big 12 conference tournament. One day after funeral services were held in San Jose, Calif. for slain player Patrick Dennehy, Bliss, 59, left the post he held for four seasons. The resignation is another chapter in a saga that has exposed numerous possible NCAA violations within the program in the midst of an investigation into the alleged murder of Dennehy by teammate Carlton Dotson. Dennehy’s family alleged that Bliss’ coaching staff was informed of the player’s concern for his safety in the weeks before he disappeared but did not respond. Additionally, several people close to the program – including Dotson’s estranged wife Melissa Kethley and former Baylor basketball players – have given accounts of frequent marijuana use by a number of Baylor players. Kethley also added that a player who was drug-free at the time provided urine for a drug test for Dotson, who left the team after the 2002-03 season. Two other ex-Baylor players, Will Allen and Steve Raquet, said that during then-recruit Harvey Thomas’ unofficial visit, Thomas played a pickup game that Bliss and assistant coach Rodney Belcher observed in person. That would be an NCAA violation. Baylor announced that it had formed an independent committee to do a thorough investigation of each of the claims made against the program. In a news conference July 28, Bliss said, “First of all, I’ve been coaching basketball for almost 30 years. During that time, even though we haven’t always won the championship, I’ve always felt that we had a solid program. We’ve tried to run it as upright and as classy as we could.” Dennehy’s body was found July 25, more than a month after a missing persons report was filed June 19. Bliss’ career has spanned 28 years and has included stops at Oklahoma, SMU, New Mexico and finally, Baylor.