Harris began his coaching career at Duke. From there, he moved to North Carolina State, coaching linebackers under Bo Rein (1977–1979). When Rein was named head coach at Louisiana State, Harris followed him in the same capacity. In 1984, Harris joined the coaching staff at Notre Dame under Gerry Faust. He initially coached the Fighting Irish defensive ends before becoming the linebackers coach the following year.[2] Bishop then moved to Minnesota where he worked the next five seasons for John Gutekunst, coaching the Golden Gophers outside linebackers (1986–1987) and running backs (1988–1990).[3] He returned to his alma mater in 1991 when he became the 16th head coach in the history of the North Carolina Central football program. In his two seasons at the helm, he led the Eagles to an overall record of 7–14.[4] In 1993, he entered the professional ranks when he joined the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. Harris spent two seasons as Denver's running backs coach, then served in the same capacity for the Oakland Raiders (1995–1997), New York Jets (2001–2004), Buffalo Bills (1998–1999), and San Francisco 49ers (2005–2007).
