ATLANTA--Eugene Harris has resigned his position as assistant basketball coach at Georgia State University to accept the head coaching post at Florida A&M University.
Harris was introduced as the Rattlers head coach at a press conference Thursday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Coach Harris,” said Georgia State head coach Rod Barnes. “Of course we hate to lose him from our staff, but we're very happy for him and his family. You always want your assistants to have the opportunity to move on to head coaching positions.
“Coach Harris is an outstanding coach and recruiter. With his experience, knowledge and work ethic, I have no doubt that he will be successful at Florida A&M.”
Harris, who had joined Barnes' staff last spring, has spent a total of 19 seasons as an assistant coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference, beginning at Clemson and continuing through stops at Auburn and Alabama.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at South Alabama in 1983-84. He then moved to Clemson from 1984-94, highlighted by the Tigers' 1990 ACC regular-season title and NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.
He then spent seven seasons at Auburn (1994-01) and one year (2005-06) at Alabama. He also served four years (2001-05) as an assistant athletics director at Auburn and one year (2006-07) as the head coach at Smiths High School in Smiths Station, Ala.
Future NBA players recruited and coached by Harris include Terry Catledge at South Alabama, Horace Grant, Elden Campbell, Dale Davis, Sharone Wright and Chris Whitney at Clemson, and Chris Porter, Jamison Brewer and Marquis Daniels at Auburn.
Harris got his start in coaching in the high school ranks, first as the junior varsity coach at Florida High School in Tallahassee, Fla., in 1979-80, then as the head coach at Pelham (Ga.) High School in 1980-81 and at Rickards High School in Tallahassee, Fla., from 1981-83.
A four-year starter and three-year letterwinner under Hugh Durham at Florida State, Harris was named to the Metro Conference All-Tournament team as he helped the Seminoles to an NCAA berth. A native of Scottsboro, Ala., Harris, 52, earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Florida State in 1979.
