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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2004)
. Baylor scandal forces Bliss family to move to Colorado The scandal that claimed Dave Bliss’ job at Baylor has not claimed his family By Mike Jones Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) LAKEWOOllf, Colo. — Dave Bliss sat about 25 rows up the collapsible bleachers, the kind typical at countless high school gyms across the country. He wore a red sweater over an open-collar shirt, khaki pants and loafers. It wasn't the same coat or tie that he always wore while pacing or crouching courtside during his coaching days at Oklahoma, SMU, New Mexico and Baylor. He looked almost out of place without a squeeze bottle of water intone hand. Bliss was engaged in conversation with a much younger man, proba bly in his late 20s and wearing a sports coat and tie. Maybe a young teacher or a coach. Though Bliss still bears the same good looks, the al most unwrinkled face and shock of blond hair that earned him the nickname of the Dick Clark of the college basketball coaching profes sion, he no longer had that once-fa miliar look as though he had a story he was dying to tell the first person who approached. Two area teams played below on the home court of Green Mountain High School, where Bliss' son, Jeff, starts on the basketball team. Jeff’s team would play in the second semifinal game of a tournament at the relatively small suburban school known more for its academics than its athletic teams' success. Bliss politely declined a formal interview, for which he had once left the door open, even though the ground rules specified no material concerning his time at Baylor. "I don't know that I'll ever talk about what's happened," he said. "I just don't see that it would serve any purpose." No offense, he said, adding that he doesn't blame the media for any of the disturbing revelations that led to the end of a previously well-regarded career of 28 years as a head coach. But during a 30-minute conversa tion, he spent much of his time talk ing about his 17-year-old son. If there is any blessing to the scandal that has made him all but an out cast to many of his peers and to some who formerly called him friend, Bliss said he believes it is the time he now has for Jeff. It is time that, because of the de mands of his profession and his com petitive nature, he was unable to spend with his other children — son Robert, 24, and daughter Berkeley, 22 — during their high school years. "He's making straight A's here," Bliss said of Jeff, with a sense of pride. "But he'd be making straight A's wherever he was going to school." Me dismissed the suggestion that the move to the Denver area — TENNIS continued from page 8 against them." The Huskies, along with Stanford, are aware of the potential Oregon pos sesses and commend the job Schyllan der has done with the program. Cardi nal head coach Lele Forood said the Ducks continue to get stronger and are especially deep this season with their talented freshmen. However, Oregon would like to avoid any significant injuries this year, which have plagued them in the past. Ihe concern right now is getting Pano va's finger and senior Davina Mendibu ru's knee back to full strength for the dual matches coming up. Men visit Corvallis The men will begin their new sea son traveling north for the Corvallis John and Phi's Tournament before dual matches later this month. The Ducks will try to regain their focus after the layoff that saw many stay in Eugene to play in local tournaments. "One thing (the players) miss is get ting matches," Oregon head coach Chris Russell said. "We're looking for ward to getting these guys rolling and getting a little finely tuned." Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. where the family of his wife, Clau dia, lives — enabled Jeff to be hap pier than he would be dealing with talk about his father around Waco, home of Baylor University. "He's a kid," Bliss said, alluding to the youthful ability to sometimes shrug a shoulder at events that affect adults. "We had to give Waco some room." When the family left Waco and moved to Colorado six months ago, Bliss offered his services as a volunteer assistant to the Green Mountain bas ketball coach, who is a friend. He had to give that up after a short while be cause of media attention and protests from parents of students attending the school. The same thing happened when Bliss volunteered at a youth fa cility in Waco. Bliss remains unwanted in his profession after the revelation that he attempted a scheme to portray slain Baylor player Patrick Dennehy as a drug dealer to cover Bliss' own NCAA rules violations, which in cluded paying tuition for players who weren't on scholarship. Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton resigned Aug. 8 after Baylor investigators uncovered major rules violations in the men's basketball program. The school also placed its men's basketball program on at least two years' probation. Staff writers Jeff Wilson and Jeff Caplan contributed to this report. (c) 2004, Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Distributed by Knight Ridder/ Tribune Information Services. Stagnant offense dooms Wolfpack against Blue Devils J.J. Redick led Duke, which improved to 13-1 with its third ACC win of the season By Ken Tysiac Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) DURHAM, N.C. — Julius Hodge lost control of his emotions at the start and his shoe midway through the first half against a dominating Duke defense Thursday night. N.C. State put the ball in Hodge's hands in the hopes that the ACC scoring leader could penetrate into the heart of the second-ranked Blue Devils' defense as a point guard. But after keeping the score tied early, Hodge and the Wolfpack wilt ed under Duke's defensive pressure in a 76-57 loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils held N.C. State to 1-for-10 shooting from three-point range and forced 10 turnovers in the first half as Duke led 41-25 at half time. Duke made five of its eight three-point attempts in the first half and opened the second with con secutive threes to stretch its lead to 22 points. J.J. Redick led all scorers with 20 for Duke. Hodge, who was averag ing 18.9 points, was held to seven, his lowest total in 50 games dating to his freshman season. Mike Krzyzewski won his 300th game in Cameron, where he is 300 46. The Blue Devils have won 35 in a row, including nine straight against N.C. State. Duke is 21-2 in its past 23 games against the Wolf pack (9-3, 2-1 ACC). Duke (13-1, 3-0) has won 10 straight overall and sits alone atop the ACC standings heading into a home game Saturday against Wake Forest (11-1, 2-0). Hodge got carried away 52 sec onds in the game, when he dunked off an inbounds pass from Engin Atsur to tie the score at 2-2. Hodge slapped the backboard with both hands, drawing an immediate tech nical foul. Redick made the two technical free throws and center Shelden Williams scored for Duke as it took a quick 6-2 lead. Hodge brought the Wolfpack back, penetrating into the lane against point guard Chris Duhon to set up Ilian Evti mov for a three-pointer, and a score on the block. Evtimov's basket in the lane tied the score at 11-11 with 16 minutes, 54 seconds left in the first half be fore Duke turned up the heat on de fense. Over the next 11 minutes, the Blue Devils held N.C. State to 2-for 12 shooting with seven turnovers. (c) 2004, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. LOSS continued from page 7 players for the ball. "We’re asking Jill to provide more energy and intensity," Washington head coach June Daugherty said. "The crowd gets excited and her teammates get excited when she gets up and works as hard as she does. Obviously the best way for her to bring more en ergy is to get up and get rebounds which she is doing well." Oregon once again struggled offen sively, scoring less than 60 points for the seventh straight game. The Ducks shot 31 percent from the floor, includ ing 14 percent from three-point range. They have shot below 40 percent in eight of the last 11 contests. While Oregon was struggling offen sively, Washington was setting the nets on fire. The Huskies shot 48 percent, connected on 11 three-pointers and had five players in double figures. Freshman forward Breanne Wat son led the way for Washington with 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting. The performance came after the Huskies had been criticized for relying too much on their seniors for scoring. Watson also connected on three of four three-pointers. "I was just running the floor and getting the open lanes," Watson said. "My teammates were hitting me and 1 converted all my layups. I've been kind of tentative on the perimeter this sea son because 1 don't feel it's my place to score. When I'm open I'll take die shot and when I was on the baseline the hoop looked like the ocean." Mendiola scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while senior Andrea Lalum added 17 points and six rebounds. Senior guard Gioconda Mendiola finished with 11 points, while freshman guard Cheri Craddock added 10. Brandi Davis led Oregon with 13 points, while Andrea Bills added 12 points and nine rebounds. Bills has tied or led the team in rebounding in 11 consecutive games. Contact the sports reporter atjonroetman@dailyemerald.com. Advertise. WililWI J 4 Oregon Daily Emerald/ ADVERTISING CALL 346.3712 umversiTY COMMONS apartments 90 CoMmoNs DRive 338-4000 Go Ducks! • CALL 338.4000 or stop by our Leasing Office at 90 Commons Drive • Monday-Friday 9-6, Saturday 10-4 j J d'jJ J iiujjj 'i iu/ ;L)-Vl)£j Furnished 1, 2, 3 & 4 Bedroom Apartments I • Washer/dryer in each apartment • Close to campus | • On bus route • Electronic alarm systems • Fully equipped kitchen i • Private bedrooms/individual leases • Computer lab, copier and fax availability 1 • Swimming pool • Basketball and sand volleyball courts • Superior workout facilities • Starting at $335 • Roommate matching service. • 10 & 12 month and short-term leases www.capstone-dev.com
