Ex-Baylor Basketball Coach Bliss Tells Church His Downfall Left Him Missing Integrity, Not Money

The road to disgrace begins with little things, former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss told a Dallas area congregation Sunday, and leads to valuing success more than integrity.

"The compromises that you allow to creep into your thinking, that's the devil," he said during a service at Highland Park United Methodist Church. "The devil likes compromises. He'll tell you, 'That's not so bad,' or 'Everybody is doing it.' "

Bliss, 66, resigned from Baylor in 2003 after investigators found he had paid part of basketball player Patrick Dennehy's tuition. He later encouraged players to say that Dennehy, who had been killed by a teammate, had paid the tuition by selling drugs.

Still barred from athletic involvement at an NCAA school, Bliss in May was named athletic director of Allen Academy, a prep school in Bryan, Texas. The announcement represented a long fall from Bliss' $600,000-a-year salary when he was named coach at Baylor.

"When I was at the depths, I didn't miss the money," he said Sunday. "I didn't miss the trophies. I missed the integrity. I missed the players. I missed the managers. I missed all the things God had given me for free."

Bliss' testimony was the centerpiece of a Cornerstone Contemporary Worship Service at the church adjacent to Southern Methodist University, where he had once served as head coach.

Though the theme Sunday was confessional, the atmosphere was upbeat. Cornerstone pastor Paul Rasmussen, casually dressed, strolled the stage while he delivered a sermon challenging the congregation to do the right thing in their professional and personal lives, no matter the costs.

As he and Bliss sat in chairs angled toward the congregation, Rasmussen asked the former coach to tell his story.

Bliss talked about how, even as he erred, he thought of himself as a Christian.

"I'm so grateful for the mustard seed of faith I had, but I was a believer, not a follower," he said.