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  1. #1

    Coach K Reference in Article on Blacklisted Coach

    On espn.com today there is a profile by Dana O'Neil on Abar Rouse. He was the assistant coach who taped Dave Bliss' efforts to paint the murdered Baylor player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer in order to cover up illegal payments Bliss had made. The tapes were made public and Rouse has been essentially blacklisted from coaching. He is currently working the night shift manufacturing airplane parts. Aside from the fact that it is an interesting story, I was drawn to a reference made in the article to Coach K. In particular, O'Neil seems to insinuate comments made by Coach in a 2003 interview had a direct impact on Rouse's current unemployment. She writes:
    Many coaches, including Hall of Famers Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski, have said that Rouse had crossed the line. "If one of my assistants would tape every one of my conversations with me not knowing it, there's no way he would be on my staff," Krzyzewski told "Outside the Lines" in 2003. The rank and file has fallen in step.
    And in fact in Rouse's own lawsuit against his former attorney (he claims she released the tapes in violation of attorney-client privilege) makes a similar allegation.
    Seeking $1.5 million in damages, Rouse alleges in the lawsuit that McNamara released the tapes to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and as written in the lawsuit, if she "had exercised proper care and diligence Rouse would not have been 'blacklisted' in the college basketball community where top college basketball coaches opined on ESPN sports network that they would not hire him."
    So my question is, does anyone remember the interview in question here? Her use of that quote out of context seems more convenient than accurate to me. What has happened to Rouse is indeed very unfortunate, and the article is very sympathetic to his plight. However, I don't see how O'Neil is able to jump from Coach K making a comment on ESPN to the entire profession "falling in step." Am I reading into this too much, or is she really insinuating that Coach K (and apparently Jim Boeheim) are somehow leading the blackmailing of this man? Obviously within any social or professional group those with clout hold a certain amount of influence, but I think that O'Neil takes that a step further than is warranted in this case. Or maybe I'm just a defensive Duke fan who sees an allegation that's not really there. Any thoughts?

  2. #2

    blah blah blah

    This is the same writer who insinuated, even after the radio station admitted to misquoting Coach K, that he still made his "we have injuries too" comment as a shot at UNC. K bashing is so easy if you ignore all the good stuff he does and/or make up some bad things he did.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devil07 View Post
    However, I don't see how O'Neil is able to jump from Coach K making a comment on ESPN to the entire profession "falling in step." Am I reading into this too much, or is she really insinuating that Coach K (and apparently Jim Boeheim) are somehow leading the blackmailing of this man?
    I don't think you're reading too much into it. The implication above may not have been the author's purpose (or maybe it was), but one could easily make that conclusion from the way she chose to word this part of the article. The article's wording implies K as a leader of a club, who has blackballed a good man for breaking the rules of the club.

    Otherwise interesting article, btw, and a dadgum shame the way things turned out for the poor guy. Maybe he can get a job with Quin...

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Devil07 View Post
    . . . he claims she released the tapes in violation of attorney-client privilege . . .
    I have a hard time believing his claim that his attorney released the tapes. Why in the world would she do that? She would have little to gain, and everything to lose.

  5. #5

    Army Connection

    According to Wiki, Bliss was an assistant to Bob Knight at Army from '67-'69 and at IU from '71-'75. So there is some history between Bliss and K.

    Make of that what you will. I'm not implying anything, but I can see how this could lead some "conspiracy theorists" to salivate.

    However, I'd be interested to see the whole episode of "Outside the Lines" to get some context for K's statements.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devil07 View Post
    On espn.com today there is a profile by Dana O'Neil on Abar Rouse. He was the assistant coach who taped Dave Bliss' efforts to paint the murdered Baylor player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer in order to cover up illegal payments Bliss had made. The tapes were made public and Rouse has been essentially blacklisted from coaching. ... O'Neil seems to insinuate comments made by Coach in a 2003 interview had a direct impact on Rouse's current unemployment. ...

    ... I don't see how O'Neil is able to jump from Coach K making a comment on ESPN to the entire profession "falling in step." Am I reading into this too much, or is she really insinuating that Coach K (and apparently Jim Boeheim) are somehow leading the blackmailing of this man? Obviously within any social or professional group those with clout hold a certain amount of influence, but I think that O'Neil takes that a step further than is warranted in this case.
    The writing is (intentionally?) ambiguous. Coach K stated a principle - assistants should not be tape recording every word the coach says - and the profession has fallen "in step" with that principle, not necessarily with Coach K, by choosing not to hire someone who would do such a thing. The chances of Coach K "blackballing" a coach are next to nil. The quote just emphasizes how close coaches are to their assistants - at least coaches not named Lute.

    Juxtaposing Coach K's name with her conclusion is a familiar journalistic device, but not necessarily good journalism.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by BD80 View Post
    Coach K stated a principle - assistants should not be tape recording every word the coach says -
    without his knowledge. I assume Coach K wouldn't have any problem with it if the coach consents.

  8. #8
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    Sounds like the only person in the universe that has ever seen potential in this guy as contributing on a division I level was and remains David. He gave the guy a chance and has said publicly that he believes that the guy deserves another one, based upon what David knows of the guy as a mentor to players (why he was hired in the first place) and about his character.

    Sounds like David rightly feels like he let the guy down, just as he let Baylor down.

    Sounds like the guy would have had an impossible time tying to land another Division I job even if David did not hatch that plan for a coverup. When your only connection with the profession at a meaningul level is that you were an assistant on a team on which one player shot another player dead, it is going to be beyond difficult to get hired again. Then, when the only person in the world who would give you a recommendation turns out to have broken NCAA rules with regard to the player who happened to have gotten himself murdered, well, getting hired again becomes ever more so, how should I say this, an "iffy" proposition.

    Sounds like Baylor needs to step up to the plate here and give their former player, who had given plenty to his school including helping to prevent an insidious cover-up of a NCAA violation, a chance to prove himself.

    Why this reporter lends credence to this blackball theory and anyone would publish it underscores that salaciousness sells. She, in short, is an idiot!

    By the way, I am sure that Coach K, and Boeheim, against whom David competed every year they were in college, if not also before, are as disappointed in David's behavior as David is. So are many others, who knew and admired the David that once, all 5'10" of him, shocked the world, or at least those of us in Ithaca, by manning up on dollar Bill and holding him to 15 first-half points, en route to what many believe was the greatest victory in Cornell basketball history (personally, I think it was the victory over Kentucky).

    Good men falter, most guys never get a break, and it is too bad that the guy's break turned out not to be.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by greybeard View Post
    Why this reporter lends credence to this blackball theory and anyone would publish it underscores that salaciousness sells. She, in short, is an idiot!

    Good men falter, most guys never get a break, and it is too bad that the guy's break turned out not to be.
    I think you hit on a really good point. To say that he's been blacklisted is a nice story but not the most likely explanation. The reality is this: there are way more coaches looking for jobs then there are spots available. With so many options why go for someone who comes with baggage. I remember a number of years ago when Tom Penders was coaching at Texas. A player transferred (I'm blanking on the name) and his academic records were somehow leaked shortly thereafter showing his poor grades. Even though Penders was clearly involved, one of his assistants took the fall. Last I heard he was a car salesman in Austin. It's an unfortunate reality of the profession, but it is the way things often work (there was an article in the NYT recently about Alberto Gonzalez's unsuccessful attempts to find work at DC law firms). I feel badly for the guy, and for his sake I hope someone does give him a shot. But to insinuate that he has been deliberately blackballed, and that Coach K and others condoned it is just lazy journalism. But of course we wouldn't want the truth to get in the way of a good story now would we...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devil07 View Post
    I think you hit on a really good point. To say that he's been blacklisted is a nice story but not the most likely explanation. The reality is this: there are way more coaches looking for jobs then there are spots available. With so many options why go for someone who comes with baggage. I remember a number of years ago when Tom Penders was coaching at Texas. A player transferred (I'm blanking on the name) and his academic records were somehow leaked shortly thereafter showing his poor grades. Even though Penders was clearly involved, one of his assistants took the fall. Last I heard he was a car salesman in Austin. It's an unfortunate reality of the profession, but it is the way things often work (there was an article in the NYT recently about Alberto Gonzalez's unsuccessful attempts to find work at DC law firms). I feel badly for the guy, and for his sake I hope someone does give him a shot. But to insinuate that he has been deliberately blackballed, and that Coach K and others condoned it is just lazy journalism. But of course we wouldn't want the truth to get in the way of a good story now would we...
    Right on, but for the record, unlike Penders, David took it on the chin. After this thing happened, David volunteered to help coach his son's JV basketball team during practice, but not at games. The media ran him off.

    If he were to get another gig, I'd be flabergasted.

    Except for this stuff at Baylor, I had never heard word one of anything bad or questionable being said about David. In college, he was definitely an "ace," I mean Dude had it all. As a freshman, non recruit trying to play some ball, you'd never have known he was all that except to look at him and see the respect he commanded from everyone on the team, several of whom were more accomplished as ball players. As inclusive and matter of fact on and around the court as could be.

    The guy fell hard. The involvment in getting the kid money, while I know none of the details, was bad enough to sully his name. The rest, well, let's just say that there aren't any books written about how a coach handles things when one of his players freakin murders another one, and there is stuff to hide about the guy who got dead. People can lose their judgment in such messes. Fortunately, David did nothing to impede the criminal investigation. But, unlike Fenders and others, after trying to duck with a wickedly bad attempted cover up, he had the good sense to take what he had coming.

    Man, Bradley missed a million shots that first half with David in his shirt. Course, he dropped 26 in the second half and I'm not sure he missed a single one; but the first half one it for us. For a moment in time and space, me and by boyz woulda thought we had gone to Duke.

  11. #11

    Tough Situation

    I have nothing than praise for the assistant for doing the right thing. There's a difference between randomly recording your head coach talking about a game plan for Carolina and recording your head coach when he's talking about things like what Bliss was discussing.

    (And you can bet the conspiracy theorists will bring up the Chronicle recordings)

  12. #12

    I Agree...

    Totally

  13. #13

    Coach K is right

    Do I think the assistant was trying to do the right thing? Yes. Did he do it the wrong way? Yes. Stand up, say what is right in a situation such as that, and take the consequences. Taping such a conversation generally does nothing but change perceptions AFTER a wrongdoing has occurred. It is dishonest as well.

    And the initial point of the thread, was the author trying to pin the blackballing on Coach K. Yes. Pathetic.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by jma4life View Post
    I have nothing than praise for the assistant for doing the right thing. There's a difference between randomly recording your head coach talking about a game plan for Carolina and recording your head coach when he's talking about things like what Bliss was discussing.

    (And you can bet the conspiracy theorists will bring up the Chronicle recordings)
    I agree with this statement here. I will admit that the statements made in the article may have been sensationalized, and I'm not sure what to think of the "quote" of Coach K in that article (at the very least, I'd agree with the assessment that he was merely voicing a common sentiment, not that he was inciting the coaching profession to shun Rouse or anything like that). Hopefully, college coaches would realize that he was taping a conversation about framing a dead man for drug dealing, not just any old conversation. It's ridiculous to think that people wouldn't be able to see that the circumstances warranted his actions. And I'd say that the parallels drawn to Bruce Pearl's situation are also food for thought.

    Again, I don't know how true the accusations are that he was made a pariah because he did the right thing, but it seems like it isn't completely based in fantasy. These sorts of stories have been going around for years or whistle-blowers being ostracized, so wouldn't be outside the realm of reality.

    M.H.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by jma4life View Post
    I have nothing than praise for the assistant for doing the right thing. There's a difference between randomly recording your head coach talking about a game plan for Carolina and recording your head coach when he's talking about things like what Bliss was discussing.

    (And you can bet the conspiracy theorists will bring up the Chronicle recordings)
    I agree. While Coach K says he would never tolerate an assistant secretly taping conversations like Rouse did, I'm also going to assume that Krzyzewski would never give money to a player and then try to cover up the kid's murder by falsely painting the kid as a drug dealer to save his own job and program.

    I'm sure every coaching staff, or person for that matter, has conversations that they clearly wouldn't want to be recorded and that's the heart of Krzyzewski's argument but like they say, desperate situations (like the one at Baylor) call for desperate measures. I see where Krzyzewski's coming from and I can see why some people would be hesitant to hire Rouse, but I still think he did the right thing.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Classof06 View Post
    I agree. While Coach K says he would never tolerate an assistant secretly taping conversations like Rouse did, I'm also going to assume that Krzyzewski would never give money to a player and then try to cover up the kid's murder by falsely painting the kid as a drug dealer to save his own job and program.

    I'm sure every coaching staff, or person for that matter, has conversations that they clearly wouldn't want to be recorded and that's the heart of Krzyzewski's argument but like they say, desperate situations (like the one at Baylor) call for desperate measures. I see where Krzyzewski's coming from and I can see why some people would be hesitant to hire Rouse, but I still think he did the right thing.
    I think context is key to K's argument; assuming normal circumstances, no one is going to trust and employ someone who surreptitiously is recording their conversations. That being in general; NOT necessarily in this specific case of very real wrongdoing.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shammrog View Post
    I think context is key to K's argument; assuming normal circumstances, no one is going to trust and employ someone who surreptitiously is recording their conversations. That being in general; NOT necessarily in this specific case of very real wrongdoing.
    Exactly. Unfortunately, Dana O'Neill didn't take the time to delineate that and as a result, the ESPN message boards are riding the Duke hatred tsunami once again. Reading the comments on this article, you'd think it was Krzyzewski single-handedly keeping Rouse out of the profession.

    If Krzyzewski really does feel that Rouse crossed the line in this specific instance then I'd have to disagree with him. The problem with Krzyzewski's quote is that it didn't come in an interview with O'Neill and it's very difficult (basically impossible) to put his comments into context by just reading the article.

    Another inflammatory ESPN article sparking anti-Duke sentiment. And whaddya know? Dana O'Neill is the author. Again.

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