BREAKING NEWS: BLISS & STANTON OUT AT BAYLOR - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Drbio · 08-08-2003, 05:02 PM

More in alittle bit. I am on PDA link.

Bliss out.
AD Stanton out.
We found major violations during internal investigation.
We confirmed payments of financial aid to student athlete by 3rd aprty.
Confirmed positive drug test

Self placed probation for two years minimum.
Any player not involved is released to play elsewhere if wanted.

MORE LATER

FINtastic · 08-08-2003, 05:14 PM

I'm not too surprised that Bliss is out. With all the info that had come out, I kind of figured his goose was cooked.

Drbio · 08-08-2003, 05:49 PM

Very upsetting day here.

In a nutshell, here is what happened.

Baylor President Robert Sloan announced a press ocnference today. We scurried to get there. He announced that Baylor's internal investigation found that major violations were revealed. At the heart of the issue is the payment of money directly to athletes by a "third party" which was not identified. I will not engage in rumor or speculation even though there is a lot of it here that pretty much identifies the third party.
We paid players. We also were aware of a positive drug test by at least one player. The coaches were aware of it and apparently covered it up. When confronted, the resignations were immediate.

In response, we have taken the drug testing program out of the athletic department (where basically everyone has it but shouldn't) and will hire a doctor to do it independently. All test results will be shared with our compliance officer and if needed the NCAA.

Our athletic director also resigned although details of that were not as forthcoming. He has been on the hot seat for a long long time and would not have likely survived this anyways.

We have reported all violations to the NCAA and put our hoops program on a minimum of 2 years probation. No post season appearances including the Big 12 tourney. The NCAA will likely have more to say about this.

To be fair, Dr. Sloan has responded forcefully and ethically IMHO. He has also charged our investigative committee to review the athletic program and continue to dig into this situation. I think that Baylor has acted responsibly in addressing the unfortunate cover up by coaches whose integrity was lacking. At least one coach lied to our faces. He is no longer wiht us I am sure. It makes me sick to my stomach. I am still proud of the school and the integrity behind the actions we unfortunately were forced to make today. We will be fine. But this is definitely a bad day for us.

MavKikiNYC · 08-08-2003, 06:29 PM

Inevitable, Doc.

This is what I was referring to a couple of weeks ago. To its credit, Baylor has shown no inclination to stonewall, or try to sweep things under the rug. This situation called for extreme measures, and to protect the reputation of the school and what it purports to stand for, Baylor really couldn't have done any less. I think that a lot of people would have lost too much respect for the school if the administration/alumni had tried to let this mess float quietly on down the Brazos.

MFFL · 08-08-2003, 07:05 PM

Like MavKiki said - inevitable. SOMEBODY was going to lose their job to make it look like Baylor was on top of the situation.

Chicago JK · 08-10-2003, 07:51 AM

Sad day for Baylor. Don't know much about Stanton, but haven't liked some of his past hires. In all honesty Baylor has a pretty solid athletic program but are terrible in the two money making sports in football and basketball. Unfortunately, I never see Baylor being competitive in basketball or football in the near future in the Big 12. Football is a lost cause...I WAS holding out some hope for basketball.

Drbio,
Fill me in here. I heard Andy Katz on ESPN say that President Sloan is in trouble too. He said with this tradegy and plus alumni not happy with his 2012 plan that he may be forced out too. Is this true or have you heard of anything similar. I haven't read anything. For what it is worh, blowhard Lupica said in his article this morning that Sloan should be gone too.

BTW, I see some team from Waco is playing in the college world series. Those games are always a blast to watch.

Drbio · 08-10-2003, 11:02 AM

1. Lupica is a complete blowhard and has absolutely no idea of the campus happenings.
2. Hewitt Midway is the favorite for the world series (they have gone 19 out of the last 21 years) Hewitt is just outside Waco.
3. Sloan is doing a damn fine job IMHO. A group of pissed off alumni that don't like the new Baylor 2012 vision became loud and grumpy recently. Sloan volunteered to meet with them and did so (shows true character) and it turned into a bash Sloan fest. It was completely poor taste by the alumni group. The 2012 vision is an amazingly proactive and insightful attempt to bring Baylor into the top tier of higher education institutions along 12 imperatives. It focuses on research, faculty, student ratios, academic aid, new infrastructure, etc. If you want for info on 2012 let me know and I will send it to you. I think to listent to the grumpy few who have nothing better to do than bitch about a great program because they didn't get their way would be rediculous. Fortunately, Sloan has the character and passion to proceed. He should be fine. The Regents like him, the students like him, and gosh darn it I like him. It would be a huge mistake to allow him to leave. He is a great leader and a wonderfully inspiring christian presence.

Chicago JK · 08-10-2003, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Drbio
1. Lupica is a complete blowhard and has absolutely no idea of the campus happenings.
2. Hewitt Midway is the favorite for the world series (they have gone 19 out of the last 21 years) Hewitt is just outside Waco.
3. Sloan is doing a damn fine job IMHO. A group of pissed off alumni that don't like the new Baylor 2012 vision became loud and grumpy recently. Sloan volunteered to meet with them and did so (shows true character) and it turned into a bash Sloan fest. It was completely poor taste by the alumni group. The 2012 vision is an amazingly proactive and insightful attempt to bring Baylor into the top tier of higher education institutions along 12 imperatives. It focuses on research, faculty, student ratios, academic aid, new infrastructure, etc. If you want for info on 2012 let me know and I will send it to you. I think to listent to the grumpy few who have nothing better to do than bitch about a great program because they didn't get their way would be rediculous. Fortunately, Sloan has the character and passion to proceed. He should be fine. The Regents like him, the students like him, and gosh darn it I like him. It would be a huge mistake to allow him to leave. He is a great leader and a wonderfully inspiring christian presence.

1) agree on Lupica. This morning he was talking how Cuban is an attention hog. He was right on that , but I don't think Cuban craves any more attention than Lupica does. I am sure Lupica is a pleasure to deal with when he is not on TV.

2) Well then go Hewitt. I watch the final couple of games every year. I have been planning to go up and watch a few of the games now that I am in driving distance of PA. Hopefully, little league has gotten the corruption out of the game. I always enjoy watching the kid who is ahead of everybody else his age.

3)Thanks for the response. I will check out that 2012 plan myself. I get the alumni magazine, but haven't read one in sometime. I am sure I can find some of the principles of his plan on the Baylor website.

Lastly, do we really want John Lucas sr. as a coach? I am sure there aren't many candidates right now, but I have never been a Lucas fan. I know his son is at Baylor, but who knows. How about this name as a stab in the dark....Josh Pastner from Arizona. He is like 26 years old, but is an amazing kid. Probably too young but almost got a few positions a last year. One of my best friends is friends with Josh and he really has an amazing story. He has been running a team in Houston for years and he literally has gotten top recruits to go to Arizona. He had an article in SI a couple of months ago on his determination to lead a division 1 job soon. He may be too young for the Baylor job but the probation would allow him to grow into the job. I keep telling my friend that Josh needs to be patient instead of applying for every job that opens up. If he waits two to three years...he will be thought of as a Quinn Snyder or the Michigan coach (who was a former Dookie). Pastner may be a little young but you can mark it down that he will be a very good coach down the road. His whole life is basketball...plus he has a pipeline in Houston that could pay great dividends.

Just a name to throw out there and definately a coaching name for the future.

Drbio · 08-10-2003, 03:06 PM

Chicago JK- we almost HAVE to hire a big name guy with a sterling past don't you think? There is a lot of speculation on Lucas Sr. locally, but I have no idea what way we will ultimately end up going. To Lucas' credit, he has numerous drug rehab centers and such and has NBA experience. I'm not sure how I feel right now about the replacement.