Disgraced

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1

You know, a question that a

man always has to ask himself

when he goes through something

like I went through:

"Are you in a better spot

than you were before?"

"Was it worth it?"

And the answer to me is "yes"

and the sooner a man gets

to leading a life

of transparency,

the better off he is and you do

that by making things simple.

But, what we do because of sin,

things get complicated.

I mean, every day, the devil

would beat me up.

Every single day, the devil

would beat me up

and remind me of what

a bad person I was.

And what that does, that

keeps harboring, you know,

the crime and keeps burying you.

And what you then-- you can't

be of any use to anybody.

Of course, I shouldn't

be forgiven.

dramatic solemn music

[Matt Sayman] For all of it to

fall apart and then in such a

short span, for it to almost

like it didn't happen.

Like right now,

you go down there,

there's not one trace of that.

[Julie Hays] Scandal of the

summer of 2003 has been

wiped from the pages of history.

low solemn music

Our investigation into this

tragedy will continue

to move forward

and I appreciate

the assistance of all the

agencies that helped to bring

this investigation

to this point.

Thank you all very

much for your time.

[Hays] It's one of those

things people around here

do not--

do not talk about.

low solemn music

[John Segrest] Waco and Baylor

are very closely associated

because Baylor is one of the

largest employers in the county

and that's always been the case.

[Danny Robbins] Baylor grads

are many of the lawyers,

judges, business people.

[Bob Fuller]

Baylor University, you know,

really plays a big part in

what goes on in Waco.

The 2002-2003 season

of my junior year,

I ended up being a flop.

At that time, it was like,

Baylor basketball was sort of

just there, nobody paid

much attention to it at all.

You really didn't think

much else about it,

at least I didn't.

I would wonder, "Why are you

guys going to these games?

Why are you sitting

in those chairs?"

I mean, it was losing season

after losing season,

across the board

on so many sports.

When Dave Bliss was hired,

it had actually been 11 seasons

since Baylor basketball had seen

any play in post conference.

Basketball coaches

have a shelf life

and coaches are not

normal human beings.

They're Type A

performance-driven people

that work insatiably to try

to elevate the status

of their school.

[Sayman] Coach Bliss was known

for turning programs around.

He had basically done it

his entire career.

[Bliss] I was lucky enough

to coach at four

tremendous schools,

five years in Oklahoma

was wonderful...

[Announcer] Coach Dave Bliss.

[Bliss] had eight years at SMU

and then 11 at New Mexico.

He is a marketing genius.

He makes a lot of money.

He knows how to

generate revenue.

He knows how to raise money

from donors

and he is very,

very intelligent.

[Bliss] Twenty-five years that

I was in coaching,

I really envisioned ending

my coaching career

at a Christian school.

I was a Baptist by faith.

It seemed like a

perfect place to go.

Dave Bliss' base salary

went from about

$300,000 a year to $600,000.

And when they hired him,

they made a big deal about it.

It was very much a coronation

when they brought him in.

[Sayman] It's not every day

you get to play for a coach

in college that has, at that

time, around 400 wins.

It wasn't hard to understand

that you were playing for a

future Hall of Fame coach.

[Robbins] The fact that Baylor

is Baylor and it's the world's

largest Baptist institution

and it's had conservative rules

over the years, does not apply

to the athletic program.

The athletic program's a

big-time athletic program,

where winning is paramount.

[Sayman] The more wins, the

more money the university gets.

The more wins, the more

money the coach gets.

The more wins, we get to stay.

It was Baylor first and

it was us second.

We were ultra-competitive,

but our record didn't show it

and our wins didn't show it.

[Bliss] Things didn't come

as easily as they did

in other places because the

competition was greater.

What the SEC is for football,

the Big 12 is for basketball.

The competition, it's

definitely NBA level

without question,

night in and night out.

[crowd cheering]

[Bliss] Pat Dennehy was a

terrific player in University of

New Mexico and he was 6'9",

a very agile player.

I saw a wonderful young man

and was excited about

him coming to Baylor.

He looked like he had all the

attributes that might allow him

to be an NBA player.

Patrick was probably 13,

about 13 years old

before he picked up

his first basketball.

He just learned like crazy

and he became a

great player overnight.

It came easy to him

like everything else.

[Okopnyi] First time

I ever met Patrick,

was a freshman in high school

in San Jose.

I looked up to him,

figuratively and literally.

He was the friendliest guy

I ever met.

He was a funny guy

and he knew that.

He was a brother to me.

He felt a need to protect the

people he cared about... a lot.

[Wynn] Everywhere he went,

I went.

Patrick and I used to go all

over town, to his high school

so he could practice,

go out to eat, go to movies.

He was always kind-hearted

and he would bend over

backwards for people.

He loved hanging out with his

friends, he loved to joke.

He loved to do stuff

to make you laugh too.

He's kind of a clown,

in a way, off the court.

[Okopnyi] He knew who he was,

he was going to be

a basketball star.

I remember Patrick telling

me that with his help,

Baylor would be the

Big 12 champion.

At the time, I think it was

hard to get recruits to Baylor.

[Marlowe] Dave Bliss must have

known something about recruiting

because I mean, he got

Patrick really excited

about going to Baylor.

He had Patrick really excited

about being one of their

scholarship athletes.

They have a chance to get

a free education,

get it now.

He had to go somewhere,

where they could offer him

a full athletic scholarship.

Dave Bliss, he made it clear to

Patrick that if he came

out to Baylor, everything would

be great, everything was

going to be wonderful.

You're going to be my star.

He had, all of a sudden,

a place to live and he didn't

have to worry about making rent.

He didn't have to worry about,

"Oh my gosh, am I going

to get evicted or not."

The bills were paid.

He didn't have to worry about

his electricity being shut off.

And he didn't have to worry

about driving around in a car

and wondering if it's going

to break down in the

middle of the road.

He said Dave Bliss had helped

him get a vehicle and I said,

"What did he get?"

And he told me a Chevy Tahoe.

And he loved it.

He really did love it.

[Brian] He talked about how he

was going to be a professional

basketball player, pay for

Wynn's college education,

buy his mom a house.

Well, for the first time

on campus,

Baylor basketball

meant something.

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