Delmer (Del) William Harris (born June 18, 1937) is a basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Texas Legends of the NBA Development League. He was an assistant coach for the NBA's New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Dallas Mavericks. He also served as an NBA head coach for the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Lakers.
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Harris is a graduate of Milligan College in northeast Tennessee, where his basketball career landed him in the school's Athletic Hall of Fame. Early in his career Harris was coach at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana before entering professional ranks in 1975 as an assistant coach for the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association, under head coach Tom Nissalke. When that franchise folded, Nissalke and Harris were hired as head and assistant coach, respectively for the NBA's Houston Rockets. When Nissalke was let go by the club, Harris was asked to take over head coaching duties. Harris led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in the 1981 season, where they were defeated by the Boston Celtics four games to two. Don Nelson brought Harris to Milwaukee as his assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks team, where he later became head coach and, later, also General Manager.
After his stint with the Bucks, Harris became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, winning NBA Coach of the Year honors in '94-'95. The Lakers fired Harris after leading them to a 6–6 start at the beginning of the lockout-shortened 1998–1999 season.
Harris was assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks from 2000 to 2007.[1]
Harris is a 1955 graduate of Plainfield High School (Indiana) in Plainfield, Indiana, a school with rich basketball tradition. He was one of the first inductees into Plainfield High School's Hall of Fame.
He has four sons (Larry, Alex, Stan and Dominic) and one daughter (Carey). All of his children played basketball at the collegiate level (Eastern New Mexico, Eastern New Mexico, University of North Texas, Dallas Baptist University, and Marquette University respectively). He is the father of former Bucks general manager Larry Harris and comedian Dominic Harris.
On July 3, 2008, the Chicago Tribune reported that Harris agreed to become an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls along with former Charlotte Bobcats head coach Bernie Bickerstaff and longtime NBA assistant Bob Ociepka. Along with Bickerstaff and Ociepka, Harris was expected to help establish a veteran presence on the coaching staff and help rookie head coach Vinny Del Negro.[2]
In June 2009, it was reported that Harris would step down as assistant coach to the Bulls, and retire after a career spanning 50 years.[3]
On November 30, 2009, it was announced that Harris would be the top assistant coach of the New Jersey Nets.
On October 3, 2011, it was announced that Harris would be the new head coach for the Dallas Mavericks' NBA Development League affiliate the Texas Legends.[4]
Harris coached seven seasons in Puerto Rico’s National Superior League (1969–75), posting a 176-61 record and winning three national championships (1973–75).
He was an assistant coach under Rudy Tomjanovich with the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal. The team was handicapped by only using college players as there was a lockout in the NBA.[5]
Harris also served as coach of the Chinese national men's team, where he coached NBA All-Star center Yao Ming and led China to a surprising upset victory over Serbia and Montenegro in the 2004 Athens Olympic basketball tournament.
Prior to becoming the Lakers' head coach Harris was also a special consultant of Canadian national men's basketball team and their then head coach Ken Shields. The team finished 5th in the 1994 World Games in Toronto.
In the fall of 2011, Harris assisted coach John Calipari with the Dominican Republic national team. They won bronze in the Cup of Americas pre-Olympic trial tournament in Argentina (the first major basketball medal in the Dominic Republic's history).
| Legend | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L% | Win-loss % | |
| Post season | PG | Games coached | PW | Games won | PL | Games lost | PW–L% | Win-loss % | |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOU | 1979–80 | 82 | 41 | 41 | .500 | 2nd in Central | 7 | 2 | 5 | .286 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| HOU | 1980–81 | 82 | 40 | 42 | .561 | 2nd in Midwest | 21 | 12 | 9 | .571 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| HOU | 1981–82 | 82 | 46 | 36 | .561 | 2nd in Midwest | 3 | 1 | 2 | .333 | Lost in First Round |
| HOU | 1982–83 | 82 | 14 | 68 | .171 | 6th in Midwest | — | — | — | — | Missed Playoffs |
| MIL | 1987–88 | 82 | 42 | 40 | .512 | 4th in Central | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1988–89 | 82 | 49 | 33 | .598 | 4th in Central | 9 | 3 | 6 | .333 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| MIL | 1989–90 | 82 | 44 | 38 | .537 | 3rd in Central | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1990–91 | 82 | 48 | 34 | .585 | 3rd in Central | 3 | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost in First Round |
| MIL | 1991–92 | 17 | 8 | 9 | .471 | (resigned) | — | — | — | — | — |
| LAL | 1994–95 | 82 | 48 | 34 | .585 | 3rd in Pacific | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| LAL | 1995–96 | 82 | 53 | 29 | .646 | 2nd in Pacific | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost in First Round |
| LAL | 1996–97 | 82 | 56 | 26 | .683 | 2nd in Pacific | 9 | 4 | 5 | .444 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| LAL | 1997–98 | 82 | 61 | 21 | .744 | 1st in Pacific | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in Conf. Finals |
| LAL | 1998–99 | 12 | 6 | 6 | .500 | (fired) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | 1013 | 556 | 457 | .549 | 88 | 38 | 50 | .432 |
Harris was inducted into the Plainfield High School (Indiana) Hall of Fame, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame,[6] and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.[1]
| Preceded by Tom Nissalke |
Houston Rockets head coach 1979–1983 |
Succeeded by Bill Fitch |
| Preceded by Don Nelson |
Milwaukee Bucks head coach 1987–1991 |
Succeeded by Frank Hamblen (interim) |
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