The Morning Dish – Thursday, July 3rd
No Morning Dish tomorrow – everyone have a good Independence Day holiday weekend! We’ll be back Sunday with all the assistant coaching moves.
Another Update: A few new cast members have been added to the Patrick Dennehy drama. Longtime Dennehy friend Daniel Okopnyi, a friend from high school, said that the two players, Carlton Dotson and Dennehy, were so afraid of threats to their safety that they were prompted to buy guns for their own protection. Okopnyi is the friend mentioned previously as telling Dennehy to move in with him in Ft. Worth, but Dennehy was unwilling to go without Dotson. According to Okopnyi, Dennehy spoke with him on June 14th, indicating that he was bringing Dotson with him to Ft. Worth. The threats against the two are though to be by Harvey Thomas, a recruit from Georgetown, according to Okopnyi. At this point, both Thomas and Dotson are “of interest”, but players on the team are forbidden to speak with the media. Additionally, there is now a lot of criticism against head coach Dave Bliss and his staff, for either not knowing about the situation, or worse, knowing and not intervening.
Courtroom with Albom: Chris Webber’s attorney has filed a motion to have Detroit Free Press columnist, author and ESPN talking head Mitch Albom testify at Webber’s upcoming trial. Albom, who spent considerable time with Chris and Mayce Webber during the recruitment and subsequent playing career at Michigan while working on his bestseller “Fab Five”, may have information that could discredit prosecutors’ claims that Webber received $280,000 from Michigan booster Ed Martin in the early 90s. The Free Press is opposing the motion to have Albom testify as part of the paper’s standard legal defense, claiming that they don’t share unpublished information with anyone. Prosecutors counter with an indication that Albom won’t have to name sources, just provide observances.
Jayhawk Court?: The Topeka Capital-Journal is reporting that Topeka attorney Brock Snyder has filed a suit against Kansas University, stipulating that the university violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act (and Constitutional rights to due process) by requiring large donations to the KU Athletic Corporation to keep their premium seats. Three season ticket holders, who have held tickets for 16, 40, and 53 seasons, respectively, were told that they would be moved unless they donated $5,000, and the suit alleges that 118 additional ticket holders were similarly pressured. KU officials said that they requested donations from the 121 ticket holders because they had premium seats, but had not donated to the Williams fund or other Kansas funds, and were “strongly recommended” to adopt a giving level similar to the fans in other premium seats.
