Saint Vincent brings back D.P. Harris as men's basketball coach

D.P. Harris is reprising his role at Saint Vincent.

The college announced Wednesday that Harris is returning to the sidelines as men’s basketball coach.

Harris led the Bearcats from 2003-19 before leaving to coach Saint Thomas in Miami Gardens, Fla., where he worked for two seasons.

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” Harris said. “This is a common phrase that we have heard countless times over the years in Latrobe, and these words have never been truer than they are right now as I return to Saint Vincent. … I have a true love and appreciation for our beautiful college and the Catholic, Benedictine values it upholds.”

It’s a great day to be a Bearcat!! Let’s GO! pic.twitter.com/TlaXtABOk4

— DP HARRIS (@DP_Harris_) March 16, 2022

A SVC Hall of Fame member and a two-time coach of the year in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, Harris also will serve as senior associate athletic director.

The proud alum has 354 career wins, including 318 during his first 16-year tenure at SVC.

He is 119-29 against PAC competition and owns four conference titles.

The Bearcats made four trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament and twice made the NAIA Tournament Sweet 16 under Harris.

“In his first tenure as head coach here at Saint Vincent,” said Fr. Myron Kirsch, O.S.B., the athletic director at Saint Vincent, “Coach Harris’ teams were always competitive and won a number of championships. We are confident that with his leadership, our men’s basketball team will be very competitive in the near future.”

Harris, a Wheeling, W.Va. native, first became a coach at SVC as an assistant in 1995-96 and became associate head coach in 2001-02. Two years later, he was named head coach.

The Bearcats won four straight PAC titles from 2012-16.

“As I embark on my second journey at Saint Vincent,” Harris said, “I hope I can make an even greater difference than I did before. I plan to work very closely with our coaches, alumni and the many beloved members of the Bearcat community. I am greatly looking forward to working with our current players to help them both in the classroom and on the court. Academics, basketball and character will always be the focus of the program.”

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. pic.twitter.com/eSIHQVZhiZ

— DP HARRIS (@DP_Harris_) March 16, 2022