Walt Harris (American football coach)

For the Baltimore Ravens player, see Walt Harris (American football).

Walt Harris

Walt Harris (born November 9, 1946 in South San Francisco, California) is an American football coach. He is most known for his tenures as head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University.

Playing and coaching career

Harris attended El Camino High School in South San Francisco, California. Harris received a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a master's degree in 1969 from the University of the Pacific, where he played college football.

Harris was the head coach of the football team at Stanford University. In his first season as head coach there he posted a record of 5–6. In his second season as head coach the team posted a 1–11 record, the school's worst since going 0–10 in 1960. He was fired on December 4, 2006, two days after Stanford's regular season ended. By the end of his tenure at Stanford, Harris had surpassed Jack Curtice as the worst coach in the history of Stanford football, with a 26.1% record.

In February 2009 he joined the University of Akron coaching staff as quarterback's coach/passing game coordinator, but the team struggled and coach J. D. Brookhart lost his job at the end of the year.

In April 2010 Harris became the Offensive Coordinator at California University of Pennsylvania.

Criticisms

Harris has been viewed by some players as difficult to work with. One article about his departure from Stanford called him a "disciplinarian" and reported that a player briefly quit the team in protest of his coaching style. Bryant claimed that one of the main reasons for not returning for a senior year at Pittsburgh was due to the fact that he would have to deal with Harris once again. USC Head Coach Pete Carroll's son, Brennan Carroll, played for Harris, and he reportedly used stories of Harris' strict coaching style to lure recruits away from Harris when Harris was coaching Pac-10 rival Stanford. However, Harris was supported by some of his players, such as Tyler Palko, who, when Harris left The University of Pittsburgh, was one of several players who were very outspoken about their desire to keep Harris in their program.

Harris also has a questionable history of play calling, particularly when it comes to his tenure at The University of Pittsburgh. In a controversial series of calls he had Tyler Palko quarterback punt on 3rd down a number of times in a 2004 game against Nebraska which the Panthers lost. Harris was also roundly criticized after 2003's Continential Tire Bowl for refusing to throw to Heisman Trophy runner-up and eventual third overall NFL draft pick Larry Fitzgerald. The Panthers lost that game against an underdog University of Virginia Cavaliers. He is also noted for such gaffes as "The Slide," "The Spread," and "The Swinging Gate.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Rank#
Pacific Tigers (Big West Conference) (1989–1991)
1989	Pacific	2–10	2–5	6(t)
1990	Pacific	4–7	2–5	6
1991	Pacific	5–7	4–3	4
Pacific:		11–24	8–13
Pittsburgh Panthers (Big East Conference) (1997–2004)
1997	Pittsburgh	6–6	4–3	3(t)	L 7–41 Liberty Bowl
1998	Pittsburgh	2–9	0–7	8
1999	Pittsburgh	5–6	2–5	6(t)
2000	Pittsburgh	7–5	4–3	3(t)	L 29–37 Insight Bowl
2001	Pittsburgh	7–5	4–3	3(t)	W 34–19 Tangerine Bowl
2002	Pittsburgh	9–4	5–2	3	W 38–13 Insight Bowl	19
2003	Pittsburgh	8–5	5–2	3	L 16–23 Continental Tire Bowl
2004	Pittsburgh	8–4	4–2	1-T	L 7–35 Fiesta Bowl†	25
Pittsburgh:		52–44	28–27
Stanford Cardinal (Pacific Ten Conference) (2005–2006)
2005	Stanford	5–6	4–4	4-T
2006	Stanford	1–11	1–8	10
Stanford:		6–17	5–12
Total:		69–85
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll.