Saint Vincent College

D.P. Harris is in the midst of his second stint as head coach of the Saint Vincent College men's basketball team, while he was named the College's interim athletic director in June 2023. 

A Saint Vincent Athletic Hall of Fame inductee and two-time Presidents' Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, he had previously served as SVC's head coach from 2003-19, before returning to the role for the 2022-23 campaign. 
 
Harris owns an overall career coaching record of 412-165 (.714 winning percentage). During his original 16-year tenure at Saint Vincent, his teams went a combined 318-126, including 119-29 (.804 win pct.) in Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) play. He then posted a 36-17 mark in his two-year stint at Saint Thomas.
 
While at Saint Vincent, Harris’s teams made two NAIA National Tournament appearances and four trips to the NCAA Division-III National Tournament, while winning four PAC tournament championships.
 
He originally joined the Saint Vincent coaching staff as an assistant coach in 1995-96, and was elevated to associate head coach in 2001-02 before taking the reigns as head coach for the 2003-04 season. During his time as an assistant/associate, the Bearcats were perennially ranked in the NAIA top 25, making four trips to the NAIA National Tournament, including Elite Eight appearances in 1998 and 2002 and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 2003.
 
Harris’s first two seasons as head coach proved to be two of the most successful in program history. In 2003-04, the Bearcats won the American Mideast Conference (AMC) tournament and advanced to the NAIA Sweet Sixteen, finishing 25-7. A season later, SVC went a perfect 14-0 in AMC play and again reached the Sweet Sixteen en route to a 25-5 overall mark. These two squads included three players who would earn All-America honors, including Tony Washam, a three-time NAIA All-America selection and the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in program history, four-year starting point guard Kenny Roberts and three-time all-conference selection and the program’s all-time leading shot-blocker, Jeff Mallory.
 
Harris and the Bearcats continued to achieve success upon the College’s 2007 move to NCAA Division III and the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. The 2007-08 Bearcats went 22-4 overall, including a perfect 13-0 at home, and won the ECAC championship. The 2008-09 squad turned in a 22-3 overall record and would again go undefeated in 13 home contests.
 
Harris then guided the Bearcats to four consecutive PAC championships and berths in the NCAA Division-III Championship Tournament between 2012-13 and 2015-16. Over that span, SVC went a combined 87-27 and saw two of its players named PAC Player of the Year, including Dillon Stith in 2014 and Jaylon Bell in 2016. The 2013-14 season saw Harris named PAC Coach of the Year and Stith named All-America by D3hoops.com, while Harris would be inducted into the Saint Vincent College Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2014.
 
The Bearcats finished atop the PAC regular season standings and advanced to the conference championship game in both 2016-17 and 2018-19. The 2017-18 season saw the Bearcats earn the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award, while in 2018-19, Harris earned his second PAC Coach of the Year honor and center Tom Kromka was voted PAC Player of the Year. The 2018-19 Bearcats finished 14-2 in the PAC during the regular season, moving Harris’s career PAC record to 119-29.
 
Upon assuming the reigns at Saint Thomas for the 2019-20 season, Harris guided the Bobcats to a 22-6 record and the finals of the Sun Conference Championship Tournament. It marked an 11-win improvement for Saint Thomas from the 2018-19 campaign, while the 22 wins were the most for a first-year coach in the program’s history. The Bobcats would again reach the Sun Conference championship game in 2019-20 and be awarded the NAIA Champion of Character Award for the second consecutive season.

In his first season back with the Bearcats he led them to a 15-11 record overall with an 11-9 record in the PAC, earning a berth into the PAC Championship Tournament Quarterfinals. The Bearcats fell in a tight game in the quarterfinals to Allegheny by a score of 79-74. In Harris' return he helped lead Jaden Gales to PAC Newcomer of the Year award and First Team All-PAC honors as well. He also coached Shemar Bennett to Second Team All-PAC accolades and Osyon Jones was named to the PAC Sportsmanship Team.

The 2023-24 season saw the Bearcats finish 23-5 overall and 17-3 in the PAC. The Bearcats opened the season on a team-record 17-game winning streak, before qualifying for the PAC Championship Tournament as the No. 2 seed. They defeated Chatham in the PAC seminfinals, before falling in the PAC title bout to top-seeded Geneva. The team would then go on to qualify for the ECAC postseason, its first berth in the ECAC tournament since 2009.  Gales was named the PAC Most Valuable Player, while Dev Ostrowski was a second team All-PAC selection and Mike Iuzzolino an honorable mention all-conference selection. 

Harris earned his 400th career victory during the 2024-25 season. During the season, Harris led the Bearcats to a 20-6 overall record and 16-4 record in PAC play, earning the number two seed in the PAC Playoffs. Saint Vincent earned a first round bye, before falling to Washington and Jefferson in the semi-finals. Harris helped lead three Saint Vincent players to All-Conference honors. Dev Ostrowski was named First Team All-PAC, while Mike Iuzzolino earned Second Team All-PAC honors, and Osyon Jones earned Honorable Mention All-PAC honors as well. Harris' 400th career victory came in a Dec. 30 win against Adrian in a non-conference game in the Carey Center.
 
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, Harris holds a bachelor of arts in communication from Saint Vincent College and a master of science in sports administration from Saint Thomas. Along with his extensive success on the sidelines while at Saint Vincent, he was also heavily involved within the Latrobe community, and was awarded the 2008 Paul Harris Fellowship Award by the Latrobe Rotary.

COACH HARRIS: YEAR-BY-YEAR