Auburn women’s basketball names Johnnie Harris as head coach

The Auburn football program isn’t the only one going through staffing switch-ups in the year 2021. At the conclusion of the 2020 season, the university fired Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy after nine years at the helm of the Auburn women’s basketball program.

Today, the university announced that Coach Flo’s replacement would be Johnnie Harris, who has been in the women’s basketball coaching world for over 20 years. From 2004-2012 she coached in the Southeastern Conference, spending time at Arkansas, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State.

Harris comes to Auburn fresh off her first and only season as the Associate Head Coach at Texas, where she helped lead the women’s team to an NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearance and finished up with a 21-10 season.

During her time at Mississippi State, Coach Harris went 221-62 and led the team to five NCAA Tournament runs, two of which went all the way to the championship game. AuburnTigers.com described Harris as a recruiting warrior, helping MS State to some of their best signing class in history.

In her five seasons at Texas A&M, Harris and the Aggies made four Sweet Sixteen appearances in March Madness, including the program’s first championship title. In 2018 Harris was named WBCA National Assistant Coach of the Year.

Harris was chosen by a selection committee headed by Athletic Director Allen Greene, and expressed her excitement about building the Auburn women’s basketball program up in the coming seasons:

"“First, I want to thank God for blessing me with this amazing opportunity. I am excited and honored to join the Auburn Family and be part of a program with such a storied tradition,” Harris said. “I want to thank Dr. Jay Gogue, Allen Greene, Monique Holland and the search committee for the opportunity to lead the Auburn women’s basketball program and be part of a community that embraces its university and its athletic program with such enthusiasm. It is humbling and exciting to join an athletic program that is as welcoming, passionate and committed to success as Auburn, and I can’t wait to start building this program to be among the best in the Southeastern Conference.”"

We’re thankful for Coach Flo’s nine years on the Plains, but we’re certainly looking forward to a revamped women’s basketball program. Coach Harris could be the spark needed to get more involvement from students at the women’s games, something which is desperately needed by the team. If we hope to be a competitive program, we need to support our student athletes.