. 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.
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