Mead Wrestling Coach Bliss Steps Down After Three Years

Scott Bliss, wrestling coach at Mead High School the past three years, announced his resignation.

“I’m not meeting my expectations any more,” said Bliss.

Bliss a high-placing national high school and college wrestler and coach, came to Mead after a successful stay at Auburn High. While there, he coached four top-four state teams, including two champions.

His decision to cease coaching at Mead was sudden, said school athletic director Dick Cullen.

“He did a great job on the mat with the kids,” said Cullen. “He had a state champion, a runner-up and a winning record here.”

Bliss said it wasn’t, however, up to the standards he set for himself as a coach. “I had not planned on this. It’s just a fact I couldn’t make a big enough difference in kid’s lives.

“I expected to do the same thing as I did at Auburn, and in my mind was not doing the job,” he added.

This year’s Panthers tied for fifth in the Greater Spokane League with a 5-5 record and finished eighth at the Tri-State Tournament. Bliss said he felt he turned in one of his two best coaching jobs this season.

Neither of his state qualifiers placed as he anticipated, a factor, perhaps, in his being ejected from the tournament following a dispute with a referee over the way a match was scored.

Bliss plans are to continue teaching, to work with his 7- and 11-yearold sons and, perhaps, get involved internationally with USA Wrestling.

“I loved being in the Greater Spokane League,” he said. “But it’s time to … do something else.”