Colleges set new rules after Baylor player’s slaying

By J-W Staff And Wire Reports     Jul 29, 2003

New Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self has never had a rule preventing players from owning guns.

“I never have, but I will (now),” Self said Monday night.

He’s one of many coaches certain to respond to the tragedy at Baylor University in which one player — Carlton Dotson — is accused of shooting and killing another — Patrick Dennehy.

“I’ve never had one (a rule about guns) because some things you take for granted,” Self told the Journal-World from the recruiting trail in Florida. “I’ve never coached a hunter, so I haven’t had a sense of actually weapons being available to guys. That will certainly change.

“This will change every first-of-the-year team meeting in America. Some things coaches haven’t covered, coaches will cover in the future. That is for sure,” Self added.

Like Self, new Lamar basketball coach and athletic director Billy Tubbs will address the gun issue in his first team meeting of the school year.

“This could be happening anywhere,” Tubbs said. “It puts you on alert.”

Dennehy, a University of New Mexico transfer who sat out last season at Baylor because of NCAA transfer rules, was reported missing by his family June 19, about a week after he was last seen on campus. After his Chevy Tahoe was found June 25 in Virginia Beach, Va., Baylor announced that Dennehy had disappeared and asked the public to help find him.

That day, Baylor coach Dave Bliss said, “It’s unusual for our staff to go more than a couple of days without being in touch with one of our players.”

Whether stricter monitoring might have made a difference is moot now. However, the legacy of this case is likely to be that more programs follow their players’ whereabouts more closely.

At KU, Self requires players to check in daily at the basketball office during the school year — before the season, during the season and after the season.

“I don’t do it from the standpoint of keeping track of them, but the standpoint of getting to know them,” Self told the J-W.

“I want them in the office and have a comfort level with you. It’s much easier during the season to keep track of them, and out of season the NCAA doesn’t allow them much time to work with coaches. They have much more free time and it’s more difficult to keep track of them.”

Self and his assistants do try to know where the Jayhawks are at all times.

“We always thought we kept good tabs on guys. We never let them go out of town without notifying the office,” Self said. “That’s the way we’ve handled it and will in the future. It will become more and more important.”

Self said parents of recruits may become more involved in recruiting in the future.

“When you are recruiting a young person to come to school, there will be a strong emphasis on families wanting to get to know the future teammates of their daughters or sons before turning them loose and letting them come to school,” Self said. “Obviously parents have to be comfortable their sons and daughters are well cared for and maybe monitor their progress more today than in the past.”

It won’t just be at Kansas.

“A lot of coaches I’ve talked to this summer say they’re going to start talking to their players more often and keeping better track of them once the season is over,” said Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

“All coaches have a great relationship during the season with their players,” he said. “It’s when the season is over and you’re not locked into seeing them every day, that’s when problems can occur.”

Like Self, former KU assistant and current TCU coach Neil Dougherty requires players to check in daily.

“If a mother in New York calls Fort Worth and asks how her son is doing and the best I can say is that I haven’t seen him since we last played, then I’m not doing what I led her to believe in the recruiting process,” Dougherty said. “This whole thing is just a huge tragedy, but I think it has reinforced why coaches ask them to do extra check-in type things.”

Several coaches said having daily contact year-round helps them grow closer to their players, which in turn makes it more likely that players will seek their help in solving whatever problems they face.

“I think when the head coach reaches out and has that kind of close relationship, it permeates through the whole team,” Sampson said. “That’s not to say something still couldn’t happen. It’s like buckling your seat belt — it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get in an accident, but it improves your odds of not getting hurt.”

While Sampson discussed the Baylor situation with his team, he didn’t spend much time talking to them about guns.

“We talk to our kids about making the right decisions and having good choices. Guys who are going to do the wrong things, whether you tell them not to have a gun or not, those are the kids you’ve got to be careful with,” he said.

Tubbs agrees that he “shouldn’t need a rule that you’re not supposed to shoot each other,” but he still feels it must be discussed.

“I never used to talk to my players about domestic problems, either, but in the last 10 years I have,” he said. “Blame it on society.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this report

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