Dennehy's friends lash out at Bliss

Dennehy Developments July 31: Attorney questions paper's interview 31: De La Rosa doubts Dotson's claim 30: Dotson suggests self-defense 30: Autopsy: Dennehy died of gunshot 29: Funeral set for mid-August 28: Baylor grieving over Dennehy's death From SI: Scorecard: Arresting developments

Above: Dennehy/AP

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Dave Bliss tried to save his basketball program with falsehoods about slain Baylor player Patrick Dennehy but instead lost it painting a true self-portrait, Dennehy's girlfriend says.

Tapes of Bliss suggesting players and assistant coaches lie and say Dennehy had been dealing drugs will be submitted to criminal prosecutors, said Kirk Watson, attorney for Baylor's in-house investigations committee. He says the district attorney will decide whether to file charges.

On tape, the former New Mexico coach is heard urging an assistant -- who was taping him -- to say that Dennehy dealt drugs to pay for school.

Dennehy, who had no scholarship, received payments to cover tuition. Baylor officials say there is no evidence he used or dealt drugs.

And Jessica de la Rosa, Dennehy's Albuquerque girlfriend, said it all backfired on Bliss.

"In trying to paint a false picture of Patrick," she said, "Bliss painted a true picture of himself."

Copies of the tapes were obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Dennehy's ex-girlfriend, Adriana Gallegos, said she had seen Dennehy smoke marijuana with friends but denied he had been a dealer. She said Bliss' comments were "very disgusting and harsh."

De la Rosa said it was particularly offensive that Bliss attended Dennehy's memorial service while all this was going on.

"For him to come to Patrick's memorial service, with Patrick's ashes sitting right up there in front of him, and he knew he was doing all this? I don't know how he could have sat there," she said.

Another Baylor player who once was a Lobo, R.T. Guinn, told authorities about drug-dealing suspicions even before Bliss made the suggestion on tape, according to Guinn's father.

Bliss told Guinn to report his concerns about Dennehy, but by then, his father said, he already had.

"We talked to the police department, the sheriff's department, the NCAA before we ever met with Bliss," Richard Guinn said.

He said there was gossip spreading, earlier, as well.

"I don't think Bliss made it all up," he said.

Guinn's father told the Albuquerque Journal, speaking of Dennehy and the player accused of killing him, Carlton Dotson: "Them boys had way too much money to be in college like they are right now."

Both Guinn and Dennehy played for Bliss at New Mexico, then followed him to Baylor.

Brian O'Neill, a former Bliss assistant at both Baylor and New Mexico, said he was "obviously very disappointed to hear what transpired." He is currently an assistant in the Lobo women's basketball program.

Lobo athletic director Rudy Davalos, speaking through sports information director Greg Remington, would say only: "It's a sad situation."

 

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