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CoSIDA 360 - September 2021
Friends & Rivals
Veteran SIDs Bill Wagner and Brent Harris share history at rivals DePauw, Wabash
by Will Roleson – CoSIDA Associate Executive Director @wroleson
Separated by just 29 miles of Route 231 in west central Indiana, DePauw University and Wabash College were founded a mere five years apart in the 1830s and have shared plenty of history since.
The two schools may be best known for their fierce football rivalry for the Monon Bell trophy, whose awarding dates to 1932 and is named for the since-defunct Monon Railroad. But the Division III liberal arts institutions also feature a pair of long-tenured sports information directors whose friendship transcends the schools’ common (and competitive) history.
Bill Wagner is in his 34th year in athletics communications at DePauw in Greencastle and currently serves as an assistant athletic director. R. Brent Harris has been at Wabash in Crawfordsville for 22 years as athletics and campus wellness communications director. Combined, they boast more than five decades of experience at their institutions.
Wagner was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2014. He was on the CoSIDA Board of Directors from 2005-08 and was the first president of D3SIDA from 2008-11. The Tiffin, Ohio, native and his wife Shelly have 10-year-old twins Nadia and John. He was a venue media director for the Pan American Games in Indianapolis in 1987 and assisted with media relations at the 2010 Men’s Final Four in the city.
A Crawfordsville native, Harris is the Academic All-America national coordinator for women’s volleyball and at-large for the college division. He has been a member of the Indianapolis Colts stat crew for 13 years, including for Super Bowl XLVI, and is part of the NCAA LiveStats for Football working group. Since 1991, he has worked numerous NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours with site-control in Indianapolis.
Together, they’ve promoted more than two decades of the Monon Bell rivalry and myriad other DePauw-Wabash events.
What makes the DePauw-Wabash rivalry so special?
Wagner - I remember, as a 23-year-old, going to my first basketball game at Wabash. I had been employed for a little over a month and had been prepared for it. I remember thinking "nothing could be like Miami-Cincinnati or Ohio State-Michigan. Then I sat at the scorer's table and looked across the court where a huge St. Bernard plopped down at midcourt inches from the out-of-bounds line. Yeah, this was different.
Harris - I think the fact that both schools recruit the same type of students makes the rivalry special. After an event, you’ll see former high school teammates come together with their families to renew friendships and put aside the rivalry for a few minutes. The Wabash-DePauw rivalry is a lot like a family squabble. You might fight with your brother or sister, but no one else better try to. I’ve been proud to see Wabash rush to help DePauw students when a difficult event has happened on the Greencastle campus, and thrilled to see DePauw students do the same during tough times at Wabash.
Bill Wagner and Brent Harris on stage together at a CoSIDA convention.
What is it like working with your counterpart for Wabash-DePauw games?
Harris - I think the best stories are less about the Monon Bell game and more about the preparation for game day. Bill and I will email back and forth, sometimes two or three times a day, regarding additional credentials, last-minute media requests, and items each of us swore we would remember to do but somehow forgot to complete. Since we both deal with the same issues on our respective campuses and alternate each year as game host, we can commiserate with each other and keep communications light throughout the two weeks leading up to the game.
Wagner - I think anytime our two schools play interesting stories are guaranteed. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Brent. It's difficult to keep emotions in check when you're involved with a rivalry like ours, but I always feel that Brent treats our media and me with the utmost professionalism and I hope he feels the same about how we do it at DePauw. Working on the telecasts together is really the biggest memory we share.
What are some of your favorite memories in the rivalry?
Wagner - The Monon Bell football game is a huge part of the rivalry and there were two games, both at DePauw that came down to the last play of the game. The first, in 2001, ended with a Wabash Hail Mary after DePauw had tied the game with 16 seconds left. In 2007, DePauw started a drive on its own 4 yard line simply looking to gain a first down and run out the clock to get to overtime. DePauw kept the drive going and called upon a backup kicker who came in earlier in the game and missed an extra point. He was making his first field goal attempt of the season. After it split the uprights and gave DePauw a 24-21 win, I remember thinking, did I have him on the two-deep? Did everyone know HE was the duplicate number 52?
Harris - The last-second game-winning plays in the Monon Bell game will always stick with me. I was on the field at DePauw for both the Wabash rally for a win in 2001 on the final play of the game. In 2007 I was going through overtime details with the HDNet sideline reporter only to see Jordan Havercamp’s last-second field goal five DePauw the victory. There have been other great finishes in soccer, basketball, and baseball games. One of the great traditions for years was celebrating senior members of both teams at the annual swimming and diving meet. That was always a special moment to put the rivalry aside and celebrate the accomplishments of seniors from both schools.
Bill Wagner at Depauw
How did you arrive at your institution?
Harris - I happened to stop by the college in late July of 1999 to visit the former Wabash SID, Jim Amidon. I walked into Jim’s office as he finished a phone call with my predecessor who was giving his two-week notice. Jim hung up the phone, took me to lunch and told me I should apply for the job. Two weeks later I interviewed, and the week after that I started my first day was Wabash SID.
Wagner - I completed my degree requirements in less than a year and moved back to my home in northwest Ohio while still pursuing a sports information career. I would check in with the Heidelberg SID each week and look through job postings in the Chronicle of Higher Education and the NCAA News. Finally, just before Thanksgiving, Dave Graham, the Albion SID at the time and a classmate at Ohio State, called me about a possible opening at DePauw. I called Pat Aikman, their PR director, and he asked me to come for an interview the next week. I was offered the job and started the week after that. In less than two weeks I went from being unemployed to living in Indiana.
What has kept you at your school for so long?
Wagner - I think being an SID at such a young age has kept me here. Being able to build something from the ground up was appealing to me. I think, as I enter my 35th year, I may have found my landing spot :) The pandemic and its impacts have, I'm certain, made many of us think about what the future holds. How we transition back to the world of constantly finding the best balance in our lives may be a new challenge. I feel incredibly fortunate that DePauw has seen the value of what we do for the University. I suppose I could always be lured away, but at this point I'm not sure what would keep my interest like this does.
Harris - I’ve had a couple of opportunities to leave and pursue some options in professional sports and broadcasting. But after evaluating the options, I’ve decided to stay at Wabash. I don’t see that changing in the near future. I’m 56 years old and have already started planning for my eventual retirement. I own a house not far from campus, and as an honorary alumnus I look forward to the day when I can come to a Wabash-DePauw game to help out where needed but not necessarily have a lot of responsibility. And of course, I’m looking forward to my first tailgate experience at a Monon Bell game!
Brent Harris at Wabash
Do you anticipate staying there for the duration of your career? What might lure you away?
Harris - I’ve had a couple of opportunities to leave and pursue some options in professional sports and broadcasting. But after evaluating the options, I’ve decided to stay at Wabash. I don’t see that changing in the near future. I’m 56 years old and have already started planning for my eventual retirement. I own a house not far from campus, and as an honorary alumnus I look forward to the day when I can come to a Wabash-DePauw game to help out where needed but not necessarily have a lot of responsibility. And of course, I’m looking forward to my first tailgate experience at a Monon Bell game!
Wagner - I think, as I enter my 35th year, I may have found my landing spot. The pandemic and its impacts have, I'm certain, made many of us think about what the future holds. How we transition back to the world of constantly finding the best balance in our lives may be a new challenge. I feel incredibly fortunate that DePauw has seen the value of what we do for the University. I suppose I could always be lured away, but at this point I'm not sure what would keep my interest like this does.
What advice would you give younger SIDs about finding a professional ‘home’ and making it a career job?
Wagner - I think much of this depends on each individual. We're not all wired the same way and, for some, moving around may be a way of staying fresh. For those who desire a professional home, it's obviously important to identify what you like and don't like in your current position and where your skills fit best. I've never shied away from learning the latest technologies and I think CoSIDA offers so many opportunities to explore. Be introspective and try to find the solutions to the problems you encounter. Never underestimate the importance of being compatible with your co-workers.
Harris - It’s an old cliché, but I’ve never felt like I’ve really worked a day in my life during my career at Wabash. There have been long days and times I’ve wondered how I would get out of bed the next day and do it all over again. But I enjoy coming to work each and every day and telling the stories of Wabash student athletes. I think the key to doing that is to love what you do. You may not enjoy every single detail, but if you love what you do overall, it makes the difficult items easy to deal with and allows you to enjoy the fun times even more.
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