bass' professional coaching career started with the aba's denver rockets (now the denver nuggets) in 1967, which he coached for two years. he coached college basketball at texas tech for a season-and-a-half from 1969 to 1971. he coached the floridians of the aba for two years before the team folded at the end of the 1972 season. the next season, he coached the memphis tams; and, at the beginning of the 1974/75 season, bass was hired by the aba's san antonio spurs, which he coached for nearly two seasons, until the franchise moved into the nba in 1976 as part of the aba–nba merger.