BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Former Fordham University head coach and current Associate Head Coach Bill Harris is the guest on Episode 005 of the PoloCAST Podcast with George Gross, Jr.
A biweekly series highlighting some of water polo’s best minds and athletes over the past 50+ years, PoloCAST is available on Apple Podcasts, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor and Spotify.
Hosted by Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Hall of Fame inductee and former Team Canada Olympian George Gross, Jr., the podcast provides listeners with more than just an X’s and O’s conversation about water polo – but a dialogue about what helped good players, coaches and administrators reach the top of the game.
New episodes release on the first and third Tuesday of every month with some bonus episodes arriving during the Holidays.
Follow the entire series by CLICKING HERE.
About Bill Harris: Among the founding fathers of water polo on the East Coast and in the New York metropolitan region, Fordham University Associate Head Coach Bill Harris enters his 17th season as part of the Rams’ water polo program.
During his time as head coach and now his first as associate head coach following the rise of former assistant coach Brian Bacharach to the lead position this year, Harris has compiled five trips to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship (2009-10, 2013-15) and four to the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo (MAWPC) Championship (2016-19). Under Harris’ leadership, the Rams have seen sustained recent success, posting three straight winning seasons (2015-17), six straight seasons of at least 16 wins (2014-19), and a Top 20 national ranking in multiple seasons for the first time since the 1980s. The team has also been recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for its Academic Progress Rate (APR) score six times.
Since 2004, Harris has brought respect back to Fordham as he helped 13 Rams earn All-CWPA Northern Division honors from 2005-14.
The former girls’ varsity coach at Greenwich High School (Conn.), he served as the travel team coach for Greenwich Youth Water Polo from 2000-03, while also serving as an Age Group coach for the New York Athletic Club from 1995-2003. Harris was also the head coach for the NYAC Men’s Team from 1982-87.
A 1997 U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame inductee, Harris had a prolific playing career at St. Francis College, where he was a 1966 NCAA All-America selection and a four-time Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) All-Star Team selection, while helping St. Francis to four ECAC Championships and an undefeated conference record in those four seasons. He later was selected to the St. Francis College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990.
Following his collegiate career, Harris represented the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) from 1967-92, where he was a member of eight National Championship teams. He was selected First Team All-America eight times as a member of the NYAC, and was 1973 and 1977 MVP for the National Championship Tournaments. Harris was also named MVP of the NYAC Paul Wacker Tournament on three separate occasions (1975, 1978, and 1980), and earned MVP honors of the North American Cup in 1977.
