Kansas City, Mo. -- The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NBAC) will present its 16th annual Outstanding Service Award at the Division III meeting of this year's NABC Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 31, 2012 to three distinguished coaches, including former Wheaton head coach Bill Harris. The award has been presented annually since 1997 and is given to coaches whose actions “inside and outside the lines” of coaching have distinguished them as valuable members of their communities. Joining Harris as a recipient of the Outstanding Service Award will be former Colby College head coach Dick Whitmore and former Wabash College head coach Mac Petty.

Bill Harris spent 26 years as a collegiate head coach with 447 wins and 209 losses in that time. In 18 seasons as the head coach at Wheaton, Harris posted a record of 320-148. Harris coached Wheaton from 1991-2009, retiring in 2009.  While at Wheaton he served as NCAA representative on the Midwest Region ranking committee and he also was a member of the NABC Congress.

In his time at Wheaton, Harris recorded more 20-win seasons than any coach in school history, with seven. His 320 wins at Wheaton is the second-highest total ever for a Wheaton men's basketball coach, behind only Lee Pfund's 361 career wins at the school. Under Harris' leadership, Wheaton appeared in the NCAA Division III Tournament six times and the program produced 10 All-American selections and on six occasions he had a player recognized as the CCIW's “Fred Young Most Outstanding Player”.

A mentor to many over the years; more than 10 of Harris' former players have been coaches at the collegiate level and countless others have coached at the high school level. During his time at Wheaton, Harris organized and led his program on five sports ministry trips overseas: Argentina (1993); Ireland (1996); Spain (1999); Taiwan (2004) and South Africa (2007).