30 Facts About Dave Bliss

David Gregory Bliss was born on September 20,1943 and is an American basketball coach.

Dave Bliss served as the head men's basketball coach at Oklahoma, Southern Methodist, New Mexico, and Baylor of the NCAA Division I, as well as Southwestern Christian of the NAIA.

Dave Bliss resigned from Baylor in 2003 following internal and NCAA investigations into a number of circumstances surrounding the murder of Baylor player Patrick Dennehy by teammate Carlton Dotson.

Dave Bliss was born and raised in Binghamton, New York, and graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1961.

Dave Bliss graduated from Cornell University in 1965 where he was elected to the Sphinx Head Society.

Dave Bliss then earned an MBA from Cornell in 1967.

Dave Bliss was an all-Ivy League guard at Cornell, was captain of the baseball team, and was named to the first team Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League in 1965.

Dave Bliss was inducted to Cornell's athletic Hall of Fame in 1984.

Dave Bliss began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Army under Bob Knight from 1967 to 1969.

Dave Bliss got his first head coaching position at the University of Oklahoma, where he coached from 1975 to 1980.

From 1980 to 1988, Dave Bliss was the head coach at Southern Methodist University.

Dave Bliss led the Mustangs to three NCAA tournaments, in 1984,1985 and 1988.

An NCAA investigation during the mid-'80s reported that Dave Bliss was involved in payments to his players, including Koncak, in violation of NCAA rules.

Dave Bliss left SMU after the 1988 season to take over as head coach at the University of New Mexico, largely due to the violations surrounding the Mustangs football program.

Dave Bliss stayed at New Mexico for 11 years and is the school's all-time winningest coach.

At that meeting, he was told that Dennehy's girlfriend had told them Dave Bliss paid for the sections of Dennehy and Herring's tuition not covered by financial aid.

Under the circumstances, Dave Bliss was forced to resign on August 8,2003.

The story was intended to serve as a cover-up for Dave Bliss paying Dennehy's tuition.

Dave Bliss had threatened to fire Rouse if he didn't go along with the scheme, leading Rouse to record the conversations.

Besides paying parts of Dennehy and Herring's tuition, Dave Bliss admitted that he'd concealed under-the-table payments to Herring and lied to both the NCAA and Baylor investigators.

Dave Bliss admitted to telling assistant coaches to file false expense reports and lie to Baylor investigators.

Dave Bliss served for two years as a volunteer assistant coach at a Denver-area high school before being hired as head coach of the Continental Basketball Association's Dakota Wizards.

Dave Bliss only lasted one season as coach of the Dakota Wizards before resigning, citing family reasons.

In May 2010, Dave Bliss became dean of students, athletic director and head men's basketball coach at Allen Academy, a college preparatory school in Bryan, Texas.

On November 28,2010, it was reported by multiple news outlets in Bryan that Dave Bliss received a two-year suspension from coaching basketball and a one-year suspension from school administration at Allen Academy by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the largest athletic governing body of private schools in Texas.

TAPPS Director Edd Burleson declined to comment on the specifics of the ruling from the nine-member board, although Allen Academy Head of School John Rouse, in a letter to parents, said that Dave Bliss had forged Rouse's signature on an approval form for a potential student-athlete.

KBTX reported that Dave Bliss had broken TAPPS rules by illegally recruiting potential players from other schools, including two senior transfers from Houston currently on the team.

In 2015, Dave Bliss was hired as the head coach at NAIA-member school Southwestern Christian University.

Dave Bliss resigned from Southwestern Christian on April 3,2017, following the airing of the Showtime documentary Disgraced, which chronicled the cover-up at Baylor.

Dave Bliss resigned in 2018, after one season as head coach.