Dave Bliss completed his first season as head men’s basketball coach at Southwestern Christian University after taking the helm of the program in the spring of 2015.
Under Bliss, SCU enjoyed its best season since joining the NAIA in 2010. Despite losing seven of their first nine games, including their first two Sooner Athletic Conference games, the Eagles rebounded and won 17 of their next 25 games. The Eagles, picked before the season to finish ninth in the ultra-competitive SAC, finished fourth in the league.
For the sixth consecutive year, a Bliss-coached teams finished the season playing for a championship. After winning 5 straight Texas Christian Athletic League titles, the Eagles finished as national runner-up in the NCCAA Division Men’s Basketball Championship.
Bliss, a veteran coach who won 526 games at college basketball's highest level, became just the third men's basketball coach at SCU in the last 25 years last April when he signed on to be the Eagles mentor.
Prior to taking over at SCU, Bliss worked at Allen Academy in Bryan, Texas, as its athletic director and basketball coach. Before that, Bliss held collegiate head coaching jobs at Oklahoma (1975-80), Southern Methodist (1980-88), New Mexico (1988-99) and Baylor (1999-2003).
A native of Binghamton, N.Y., Dave attended Cornell where he received his B.S. in economics and his MBA in marketing. While at Cornell, he was an All-Ivy League guard for the Big Red and an All-East outfielder in baseball.
Upon graduating from Cornell in 1967, Dave joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., where he coached under Bob Knight. After his discharge from the military, Bliss accepted the assistant position at his alma mater before joining Knight as an assistant at Indiana.
Bliss spent four years at Indiana, helping Knight assemble what has arguably been called the best college basketball team of all-time; the 1976 national champion Hoosiers.
That opportunity resulted in Bliss being hired as the head coach at the Oklahoma in 1975, becoming the youngest head coach in college basketball at age 31. He led the Sooners to their first Big 8 championship in 1978. OU defeated Texas before losing to Larry Bird’s Indiana State team in the Sweet Sixteen. During his five seasons at Oklahoma, Bliss was named Big 8 coach of the year twice.
From Oklahoma, Bliss took the head position at Southern Methodist where he coached the next eight years. A Southwest Conference championship and coach of the year award in 1988 jettisoned Bliss to his next position at New Mexico.
In the next eleven years, Bliss became New Mexico’s winningest coach and led the Lobos to several conference championships, numerous NCAA tournaments and two more coach of the year awards.
His desire to finish his coaching career at Christian school led him to leave Albuquerque in 1999 for the job at Baylor. Under Bliss, the Bears were making strides towards the upper half of the competitive Big 12, but in 2003, Bliss stumbled and admitted to several NCAA violations. His resignation followed and, with the exception of a year coaching in the professional CBA, he was involved in private business in Denver.
As a public speaker, Bliss has eagerly shared his testimony with many men’s groups, universities and churches throughout the country. His speaking engagements have included a talk to over 500 coaches at both the 2008 San Antonio and 2015 Indianapolis Final Fours. The focus of his message is to encourage young people, especially coaches, to “guard their hearts,” as he shares how his life has been shaped through life’s trials and God’s grace and faithfulness. This effort culminated in his recently-released book, Fall to Grace. More than a decade after his indiscretions at Baylor, Bliss openly shares his personal journey from worldly fame, to humiliation, to spiritual discovery and the unfathomable grace revealed to him by a God who wants to give us all a second chance at life.
Bliss has been married to Claudia Fosnes for 38 years and they have three children – Robert, married with two children and a lawyer in Denver; Berkeley, married with two children living in Edmond, Okla.; and Jeffrey, an aspiring film director in Los Angeles.
5/4/16
Overall Record:
at Oklahoma:
1975-76: 9-17
1976-77: 18-10
1977-78: 14-13
1978-79: 21-10 (Big 8 Conference Champions; NCAA Sweet 16)
1979-80: 15-12
at SMU
1980-81: 7-20
1981-82: 6-21
1982-83: 19-11
1983-84: 25-8 (NCAA)
1984-85: 23-10 (NCAA)
1985-86: 18-11 (NIT)
1986-87: 16-13
1987-88: 28-7 (Southwest Conference Champions - NCAA)
at New Mexico
1988-89: 22-11 (NIT)
1989-90: 20-14 (NIT)
1990-91: 20-10 (NCAA)
1991-92: 20-13 (NIT)
1992-93: 24-7 (Western Athletic Conference Tournament Champions - NCAA)
1993-94: 23-8 (WAC Regular-Season Champions - NCAA)
1994-95: 15-15
1995-96: 28-5 (WAC Regular-Season Champions - NCAA)
1996-97: 25-8 (NCAA)
1997-98: 24-8 (NCAA)
1998-99: 25-9 (NCAA)
at Baylor
1999-2000: 14-15
2000-01: 19-12 (NIT)
2001-02: 14-16
2002-03: 14-14
at SCU
2015-16: 19-15 (NCCAA Division I runner-up)
OVERALL: 545-343 (.614)
