Walt Harris

Walt Harris (born November 9, 1946) is a former American football player and coach in the United States. Harris served as the head football coach at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California from 1989 to 1991, the University of Pittsburgh from 1997 to 2004, and at Stanford University from 2005 to 2006, compiling a career college football record of 69–85.

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 served as offensive coordinator at Tennessee under Johnny Majors, helping the Volunteers win four of five bowl games while there. In 1989, he became head coach at the University of the Pacific. As head coach of Pacific, his staff included future NFL head coaches Jon Gruden and Hue Jackson.

Harris was the quarterbacks coach for the New York Jets from 1992 to 1994. A noted quarterback tutor, he helped Boomer Esiason return to form and earn a trip to the 1993 Pro Bowl.

Pittsburgh
When Harris took over at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997, the football program was in decline. They had won just 12 games in the previous four seasons. He eventually led Pitt to five consecutive bowl games.

In 1997 Harris won Big East Coach of the Year honors when he led his team to the Liberty Bowl, the first postseason game since 1989. Harris led the Panthers to back-to-back 7-5 seasons and bowl appearances in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, Pittsburgh finished 9-4 after beating Oregon State, 38-13, in the Insight Bowl. That year he won the American Football Coaches Foundation (AFCA) Region I Coach of the Year. The Panthers went 8-5 after losing to Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl in 2003.

Notably, he coached both Antonio Bryant and Larry Fitzgerald to the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation's top wide receiver.

In 2004, Harris led the Panthers to their first BCS bowl game in school history. Pitt lost to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl that season. Despite winning the Big East Coach of the Year award, Harris was pushed out of Pittsburgh. After Harris left, Pitt did not make another bowl game for four years.

Stanford
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 abysmal regular season ended. By the end of his tenure at Stanford, Harris had surpassed Jack Curtice with the lowest winning percentage in the history of Stanford football, with a 26.1% record.

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

In April 2010, Harris became the offensive coordinator at Division II California University of Pennsylvania. He was replaced after one season.

Coaching style
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.

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 third down a number of times in a 2004 game against Nebraska which the Panthers lost. Harris was also criticized after the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl for under-utilizing Heisman Trophy runner-up and eventual third overall NFL draft pick Larry Fitzgerald.