KLTV 7 News Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville |Bliss back in Texas again after Baylor scandal
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Associated Press - July 18, 2009 4:05 AM ET
OVILLA, Texas (AP) - Former basketball coach Dave Bliss is back in Texas.
It's been about six years since he was hiding from a scandal that started with a player's killing and snared Bliss in a web of lies and financial shenanigans.
The 1-time Baylor coach spent time in North Dakota and Colorado before returning to Texas to be near his first grandchild.
Basketball seems to be far behind him, yet he is now candidly discussing what went wrong in Waco - and shouldering the blame.
On a Sunday in late spring, he brought his testimony to a suburban Dallas pulpit. He told the First Baptist Church of Ovilla, near Dallas, that no matter how bad people say he was, he was worse.
A former assistant to Bob Knight, Bliss won 526 games over 28 years at Oklahoma, SMU and New Mexico before taking over at Baylor in 1999. Four years later, player Patrick Dennehy went missing, then was discovered to have been murdered. A former teammate, Carlton Dotson, later pleaded guilty to killing Dennehy and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
While that was playing out, Baylor officials discovered that Bliss improperly paid up to $40,000 in tuition for Dennehy and another player, and that the coaching staff had not reported players' failed drug tests. And, in an attempt to cover his own misdeeds, Bliss asked players and an assistant coach to lie to investigators by saying Dennehy paid his tuition by dealing drugs.
Addressing the church crowd, the 65-year-old Bliss lays out his indiscretions and their repercussions. The sins of a biblical figure (King David), a disgraced sports star (Roger Clemens), a politician (Richard Nixon) and another Texas scandal (Enron) - all were cathartic analogies for Bliss.
When he finished, the congregation gave Bliss a standing ovation.
On Tuesday, Bliss is scheduled to speak at the Texas High School Coaches Association's annual convention in Austin. His session is billed, "Coaching: A job or a profession?"
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