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Posted on Sun, Sep. 07, 2003

Bliss scandal puts focus on booster clubs
By Danny Robbins and Mark Horvit
Star-Telegram Staff Writers


Dave Bliss formed the Sixth Man Club when he became the coach of the Baylor University men's basketball team in 1999. Some observers believe that the manner in which the club was formed set a tone for Bliss' program, creating an environment in which rules violations could more easily occur.

When Dave Bliss became men's basketball coach at Baylor University in 1999, he organized a new booster group, the Sixth Man Club.

For Bliss, having such a club was standard operating procedure. Its name and membership requirement -- an annual donation of at least $1,500 -- were identical to those of a club he had initiated at his previous coaching stop, the University of New Mexico.

But for Baylor, it was a departure from standards in at least two crucial areas.

The club was organized independently of the university's established basketball booster group, the Fast Break Club. And instead of being administered by the athletic department official responsible for such groups, it was administered by one with longtime ties to Bliss.

Now, as Baylor deals with the NCAA rules violations that surfaced in the aftermath of the shooting death of basketball player Patrick Dennehy, some believe that the manner in which the club was formed set a tone for Bliss' program, creating an environment in which the coach wielded an inordinate amount of control and in which rules violations could more easily occur.

"Right or wrong, when you get a big-name coach, he has carte blanche," said Nancy Upton, a Baylor business professor who last year quit her position as secretary-treasurer of the Baylor Bear Foundation, the university's primary athletic fund-raising group, because of a variety of issues relating to athletics, including the Sixth Man Club.

"These people come in as stars. They're making fabulous salaries. People want to be around them. People want to eat dinner with them. People want to be insiders. You capitalize on that so you can raise money from these people. But what he [Bliss] did with that club, showing a blind eye [to Baylor procedure] in the way it was formed, was just indicative to me of what's going on in athletics."

A university investigative committee and the National Collegiate Athletic Association have been scrutinizing Bliss' program since questions surfaced in July regarding how Dennehy made the down payment on a sport utility vehicle and paid his tuition during the 2002-03 school year.

Bliss resigned Aug. 8, acknowledging that rules had been violated. Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. said at the time that the university had learned that two players had received improper tuition payments and that Bliss had been aware of it.

Since Bliss' resignation, Sloan and other Baylor officials have said they had found no evidence implicating university boosters in the improper tuition payments, although the internal investigation continues.

A double-edged sword

Many in college athletics view booster groups as a double-edged sword, essential to raising the money required for scholarships, facilities and other high-dollar necessities, but also conducive to an environment that promotes impropriety.

"These groups have always been looked at as being pretty scary from a compliance standpoint because you just don't have full control," said John Gerdy, a former associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference who writes about college sports and serves on the sports administration faculty at Ohio University. "You don't know what they're going to do using your [school] name. No matter how well they're audited, you just don't know."

One concept endorsed by Gerdy and others is to channel all fund raising through a single organization and eliminate sport-specific booster groups. That way, a university could secure the financial health of the entire athletic program and ensure that boosters do not gain excessive influence on certain programs and coaches.

"I would think any school making an honest effort to improve its institutional control over athletics would have to consider [that philosophy]," Gerdy said.

At Baylor, in addition to the primary Baylor Bear Foundation, there are several sport-specific booster groups known as "excellence" funds.

The foundation's main purpose is to raise money for athletic scholarships. The excellence funds exist primarily to help coaches purchase items that aren't covered by their budgets.

The foundation's Web site lists 12 excellence funds, including the Fast Break Club, which requires an annual donation of at least $250. The Sixth Man Club is not among the excellence funds identified on the Web site, nor is it listed as a membership level within the Fast Break Club.

Jim Huey, who served as associate executive director of the foundation from 1996 until he left Baylor in 2001, said he wanted the Sixth Man Club to be a level of giving within the Fast Break Club, but that idea wasn't acceptable to Bliss.

"That was a choice that coach Bliss made," he said. "That was kind of his call."

While he worked with the foundation, Huey said, he oversaw all of the excellence funds except the Sixth Man Club, which was the responsibility of Doug Smith, the foundation's executive director.

Smith, who came to Baylor in 1998 and remains at the university, held fund-raising positions at the University of New Mexico and Southern Methodist University when Bliss was the head basketball coach at those schools.

Huey, who left Baylor to become president of the Gladney Fund, the fund-raising arm of the Fort Worth-based Gladney Center for Adoption, said the fact that he was out of the loop on the Sixth Man Club was unusual, but that "coach Bliss felt comfortable with Doug, which is understandable."

Upton, who holds the Ben Williams chair in entrepreneurship at Baylor, said her concerns about the Sixth Man Club began when it was organized because it was initially an invitation-only group, leading her to believe that it was being operated "below the radar."

Upton said she was also upset that Huey had no role with the club. She said she was led to believe that Huey had been kept out because he objected when he learned that alcohol would be served at the group's meetings. "I was already at one of the top giving levels [in the Baylor Bear Foundation]," she said. "And, all of a sudden, Bliss comes along and asks for this fabulous sum of money. It's by invitation only. It's below the radar. And it's alienating Baylor employees because the activities at the meetings are not consistent with the university's mission."

Huey confirmed that he objected to the idea that alcohol would be served at Sixth Man Club meetings but said he does not believe it was the reason he did not have oversight of the organization.

Smith declined to answer questions, referring them to Noley Bice, Baylor's general counsel.

Bice said it would be inappropriate for him to comment before the university committee examining Bliss' program has completed its work.

Starting a club

University spokesman Larry Brumley said even if the Sixth Man Club was organized or marketed differently from similar groups at Baylor, all funds went through the foundation and were subject to audit.

Another element of the Sixth Man Club's startup, according to Laura Collins-Hays, Bliss' administrative assistant at the time, was the involvement of William Stevens.

Stevens, a Waco resident who previously lived in Dallas, was one of the nine SMU boosters disassociated by the university as a result of their roles in the play-for-pay scandal that caused the school's football program to receive the NCAA "death penalty" in 1987.

At that time, Bliss was SMU's basketball coach and Smith its chief fund-raiser for athletics.

Describing Stevens' efforts relating to the Sixth Ma

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Very interesting article. Jim Copeland sounds like he has a very realistic view of what's going on, and how difficult it is to police such things.