Dan Harris was UW-Milwaukee's first men's soccer coach and also helped grow MSOE athletics

Sasho Cirovski had just finished his first semester at UW-Milwaukee when he got a call from men's soccer coach Dan Harris.

"He called me to congratulate me on a good academic semester and it’s something that kind of resonated," Cirovski said Friday. "Wow, this guy cares a lot more than just my assists and goals on the field. I just have such wonderful memories of the quality of man that he was. I’m very grateful he gave me the opportunity to get my education at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and I cherish my time at UWM and Milwaukee thanks to Dan."

Harris, who died earlier this month at 81, spent more than 50 years in college athletics. He was UWM's first men's soccer coach and ended his career with a 20-year stint as Milwaukee School of Engineering's athletics director.

Cirovski still feels Harris' influence as the head coach at the University of Maryland, where he has won three NCAA championships.

“Dan was just a wonderful human being," Cirovski said. "The first thing I think about is what a great gentleman he was. I remember my first few days in Milwaukee in 1981. He took the team to his home for a cookout on the shores of Lake Michigan. I thought it was the coolest thing around to have a college coach bring us over (with) open arms. And it’s something I do with my Maryland teams right now. I open up every preseason by having the team over to my house.”

Harris was an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy before being hired by UWM in 1973. He quickly immersed himself in the city's small-but-fervent soccer community.

Cudahy native Pete Knezic was one of Harris' top players from 1977-80 and remains third in program history with 125 points.

"The greatest thing Dan did, in my opinion, was he did a great job of recruiting a lot of the so-called American kids but we were really foreigners," said Knezic, whose family immigrated from the former Yugoslavia. "Because we were playing soccer all the time. And it was kids from Sport Club, Bavarians and all these other clubs. He went out to recruit the Serbs, Milwaukee Serbs, United Serbs.

"And he brought us all together at UWM. And most of us weren't friends. I mean, we did not really like each other when we were playing club soccer. We got a chance to be close friends. Really not just for those four years but when I see people I play with it's always a big hug at seeing that person. We owe a lot of that to Dan."

Harris remained with the Panthers until 1983, compiling a 109-70-15 record and leading the Panthers to their first two NCAA tournaments. He was also briefly the coach at Concordia University.

“I think Dan was a leader in trying to promote soccer," Cirovski said. "UWM was a big deal in Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin. I think he always had a visionary way of trying to promote the game. I remember he got corporate sponsorships for our preseason tournaments before almost anybody in the country."

Harris put together the Miller Lite Panther Invitational and also promoted UWM's local rivalries with the Milwaukee Cup (vs. Marquette), the LeWang Cup (vs. Northern Illinois) and the Chancellor's Cup (vs. UW-Green Bay).

Harris was well-known in the Milwaukee soccer community, working with the Milwaukee Kickers club team and doing camps and clinics in the area. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Soccer Hall of Fame in 1997.

Harris was athletic director at MSOE from 1995-2015. The Raiders added seven varsity teams and won 47 conference championships during his tenure.

"He was there when the Kern Center got built," Knezic said. "He was there for the soccer field across the street with the parking lot (Viets Field). When you start thinking about all that, for sure you think to yourself that's fantastic the amount of things he was part of and helped accomplish in this community."

There will be a celebration of life for Harris held from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at MSOE's Diercks Hall.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dan Harris was UW-Milwaukee soccer coach and MSOE athletic director