4A Coach of the Year - 2002

KIT HARRIS
Baldwin High School

Kit Harris was voted 4A Coach of the Year by his colleagues after leading the Baldwin Bulldogs to a 15-2 dual record, which included a Frontier League and regional runner-up finish, as well as Baldwin’s first ever top ten state finish in school history as the Bulldogs placed seventh. Baldwin also set school records for dual wins, number of state placers (3) and number of finalists (2) in a season.

BHS had three Academic All-State picks (also a school record) and finished second at the Washburn Rural Championship Duals and won the Baldwin Invitational Tournament.

Harris has coached at Baldwin, his alma mater, for three years and has a 36-18 dual record. He has coached 39 state qualifiers, 15 state placers, and 1 state champion. Baldwin hadn’t had a winning season since 1989, when Harris was a high school junior on a regional championship Bulldog team that went 12-1.

Harris was also named the Lawrence Journal-World’s All-Area Coach of the Year, is KWCA Vice President, and was recently elected as a Co-Director for the Kansas Cadet National Freestyle/Greco-Roman team. He previously coached four years at Washburn Rural H.S. before going to Baldwin. As a student at BHS, Harris was a two-time state qualifier and top six state finisher in 1991 as a senior with a 31-7 record. He had a 100-38-2 career varsity record at BHS and is third on the school’s all-time wins leaders. A Baker University honor graduate, Harris teaches Language Arts at BHS. He was a Teacher of the Year nominee at Washburn Rural in 1998.