Del Harris
From Hoopedia
Del Harris was born June 18, 1937 in Plainfield, Indiana. He attended Milligan College in Tennessee, where he graduated cum laude in 1959 with a degree in religion. He earned a master’s degree in history from Indiana University in 1965.
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NBA Coaching
Harris completed his seventh full season as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks after joining the franchise during the last two months of the 1999-2000 season. During his time with the Mavericks, the team has posted an impressive 355-157 (.693) record. In three of the last four seasons, he has been voted as the top assistant coach in the league in the annual General Manager’s poll.
Harris is one of the most experienced coaches in the NBA, becoming the 20th coach to record over 500 wins. With 13-plus years as a head coach, he has compiled a 556-457 overall record with three different teams.
In his last eight full seasons, Harris’ clubs won over 400 games, including an impressive 218-110 record (.665) with the Los Angeles Lakers. During Harris’ first season with the Lakers in 1994-95, Los Angeles went from a lottery team the season before to a 48-win team that beat Seattle, the division winner, in the first round of the playoffs. That season Harris was named the NBA Coach of the Year.
Though known for his defensive philosophies, in his last three seasons in Los Angeles, the Lakers scored the most total points in the league. In 1997-98, the Lakers became only the third team in NBA history to lead the league in scoring while holding their opponents below 100 points per game. He joined Pat Riley as the only coach in L.A. franchise history to register three consecutive 50-plus wins in a season, including a 61-win season in 1997-98.
Prior to joining the Lakers, Harris coached the Milwaukee Bucks, where he remains the only coach in their history to guide them to four consecutive playoff appearances in his first four seasons at the helm compiling a 191-154 overall record (.554).
Before assuming Milwaukee’s head coaching position in June of 1987, Harris served as the Bucks scout and assistant coach under then-Head Coach Don Nelson (1983-1987). Del landed his initial NBA job with the Houston Rockets in 1976, spending three years as an assistant coach under Tom Nissalke. The Rockets promoted Harris to head coach following Nissalke’s departure prior to the 1979-80 campaign.
Though Houston had never been to the playoffs two consecutive seasons, he led the Rockets to playoff berths his first three seasons, highlighted by a trip to the 1981 NBA Finals where Houston lost to the Boston Celtics in six games. The Rockets established a then-NBA record during their march to the Western Conference Championship that season, winning eight games on the road during the playoffs, including the decisive game over the defending champion Lakers at The Forum in the first round.
Harris has also developed many young players into All-Stars in the NBA. In four years at Los Angeles, he had five different players make the All-Star Team, four for the first time (Cedric Ceballos, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Kobe Bryant).
He also worked with three-time NBA MVP Moses Malone at the Utah Stars and Houston Rockets in Malone’s developmental years.
His fame as a Hoosier, in addition to his many other basketball accomplishments, stems from being the only NBA coach who has won an Indiana High School sectional title.
College Coaching
The 69-year-old Plainfield, Indiana native has produced champions at virtually every level in 47 years of coaching, including the NBA, collegiate, overseas and high school ranks. As the head coach for Earlham College (Indiana), he led the team to a school-record 176 victories and the first three conference championships in the school’s history during his nine-year stint there.
International Coaching
Harris also gained international experience as he coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s Superior League (1969-75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships. He also was an advisor to the Canada National Team in 1993-94 for the 1994 World Games in Toronto and was an assistant to Rudy Tomjanovich for the USA in the 1998 World Games in Athens.
In 2004, he coached the National Team of China as their first foreign coach. Along with Yao Ming, he led them out of the preliminaries to an eighth place finish at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Their win against defending World Champion Serbia is regarded as China’s greatest win in basketball history.
Honors
He is a member of four Halls of Fame: National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame (NAIA), Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Earlham College Hall of Fame and Milligan College Hall of Fame.
Author
He has written various magazine articles and successful books on basketball coaching, some have been used as college texts or supplements.
Actor
He is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild having appeared in such features as Space Jam and Diagnosis Murder.
Announcer
He is bilingual and did color commentary for the 1996 NBA Finals for ESPN Spanish Radio.
Personal
Del and his wife, Ann, have one son, Nik, who is a junior in high school. He has four children from a previous marriage, sons Larry, Alex and Stan, and daughter Carey. He is also the grandfather of seven. Del and Ann have given back to the communities in which they have lived, being involved in many charitable outlets. Together they formed the Del and Ann Harris Foundation which is active in promoting Christian education, missions and other worthy causes over the last five years.
