Prairie tabs Bliss to be head football coach

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids Prairie has decided to run its varsity football program on a wing and a prayer. Well, that first part anyway.

The school announced Monday afternoon it will hire Oklahoma native Mark Bliss as its new head coach, pending school board approval. Bliss comes to Prairie after stints at several out-of-state schools, most recently Ozark (Mo.) High School.

He runs a version of the old single-wing offense, which area football fans likely will best remember Coach Bob Howard using to great success and multiple state championships at Sigourney and Sigourney-Keota. Bliss actually knows Howard.

'He's a great football coach,” Bliss said. 'We'll run our version of it. It won't be as good as his, but we've won a lot of football games over the years using it.”

Bliss, 51, has a 159-57 career record in 19 seasons as a head coach, including four Kansas state championships at Conway Springs High School. He also has made stops at Edwardsville, Ill., Odessa, Mo., Las Animas, Colo., Derby, Kan., and Naples, Fla.

He has friends in the area who tipped him off about the Prairie opening. Mike Morrissey announced his resignation last month to take over the football program at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Desert Mountain High School.

'I'm looking forward to the opportunity,” he said. ''After thorough research and input from close family friends who live in the Cedar Rapids area, I have no doubt we are moving to a community that prides itself on providing essential resources for all of its students to attain a quality education ... I look forward to getting started and it will be our mission to build a program that will compete at the highest level and give the Prairie community something to be proud of.”

'Mark is a man of integrity who has had large amounts of success,” Prairie Athletics Director Rocky Bennett said. 'His ability to relate to kids was very evident during his interview.”

Bennett said the school interviewed five candidates for the job and that he was not concerned with Bliss' vagabond ways, saying he fully expects him to be at Prairie for the long haul. Bliss and his wife, Jill, have four daughters: Ashlie, Emile, Caylie and Natalie.

Prairie was 4-6 this past season, losing in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs to Pleasant Valley, 31-24. Bliss' final Ozark team was 5-6 this past season.

'I was a finalist for a couple of other jobs, but I've called them and told them Cedar Rapids is where we are going to be,” Bliss said. 'This is where I want to finish out my career.”

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