Simon Harris joined the Dayton women's basketball staff in June of 2014, making this his fourth season as the assistant coach. He spent the previous three seasons on staff with the Dayton men's team under head coach Archie Miller.
During the 2015-16 season, Harris helped coach the flyers to a 14-15 record and an appearance in the WNIT. Last year, UD had Defensive Player of the Year (Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova)Â and Rookie of the year (Lauren Cannatelli)Â in the A-10. UD also had a all-conference third team member (Jenna Burdette), and an A-10 all-academic player (Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova). Harris also helped coached the team to a 7-9 conference record.
As an assistant coach in 2014-15, he helped lead UD to a 28-7 overall record, tying the 2012-13 season for most wins in UD's modern DI era. While at Dayton, he has helped lead a program that saw two student-athletes selected in the 2015 WNBA draft. It was the first time an Atlantic 10 team had two players drafted since 2011.
In his three seasons with the UD men's team, Harris helped with the development of front-court players with on-court and individual instruction. He also worked on advanced scouting for the coaching staff, putting together scouting reports, game analysis and film breakdown and was an integral part of the team's film exchange program. Harris was involved with the underclassmen recruiting process working with high school freshmen and sophomores.
Prior to joining Archie Miller 's staff for the 2011-12 season, Harris had stints at Tryon Title, GoTickets.com and with the Dallas Cowboys during 2010-11. As a marketing executive at Tryon, he was the point of contact with both new and current customers. Harris managed client concerns and helped them navigate race-day issues at GoTickets.com, NASCAR's exclusive ticket provider. He also gave professional football a shot with the Dallas Cowboys, despite not playing the sport in high school or college. Harris practiced under the instruction of the Cowboys' coaching staff.
Harris was a two-year letter-winner for the NC State men's basketball after sitting out one season following his transfer from Elon. He graduated from NC State in 2008 with a bachelor of arts degree in sociology. Harris then played one season of professional basketball during 2009-10 in Ireland following his collegiate career at NC State. He played for An Cearnog Nua Moycullen near Galway, Ireland.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Harris spent two years at Central Catholic High School before relocating to Raleigh, N.C. Under the direction of coach Scott McInnes, he spent his junior and senior seasons at Millbrook High School. Harris played AAU ball with the Kappa Magic, winning an AAU National Championship with his 2002 squad that included Chris Paul and Reyshawn Terry.
Harris is the son of Larry Harris, a collegiate basketball coach for 27 years with stops at Duquesne, Oregon State, Washington State, NC State and Rhode Island, and Stacey Harris. He has two sisters in Raquel, who attends UNCG, and Mercedes, who is a student at Charlotte.
