Former NC State men's player Simon Harris rejoins women's basketball coaching staff

A familiar face is head back to NC State. Former Wolfpack men’s player Simon Harris is rejoining the women’s basketball program as an assistant, coach Wes Moore announced Wednesday.

“We’re excited to bring a member of the Wolfpack family back home,” Moore said in a statement. “Simon brings a lot of Power Four experience, including a previous stint here with our program, which will allow him to hit the ground running. As a former athlete at NC State himself, he will also be a good resource for our student-athletes as they look to excel on the court and in the classroom.”

Harris replaces Brittany Morris, who is now an assistant at Louisville. He previously served on Moore’s staff from 2018-20, where he helped the Wolfpack win the 2020 ACC Tournament title — the program’s first conference crown since 1991. That squad went 28-4, including a 14-4 mark in ACC play, as it finished No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.

In addition to the league championship, Harris was also integral in the Wolfpack’s 2019 Sweet 16 run, while the team had its best start to a campaign ever with a 21-0 mark to open the 2018-19 season.

After Harris left Raleigh, he served as an assistant at Ohio State for the 2020-21 campaign, where he helped the Buckeyes rank ninth in scoring and 20th in pace of play. Harris was then the head coach at East Tennessee for the 2021-22 season for one season. Most recently, he has served as an assistant at Loyola Chicago for the past two years.

Harris, who was also an assistant at Dayton that helped the Flyers to four postseason berths and an 87-39 mark from 2014-18, graduated from NC State with a sociology degree in 2008. He spent two seasons playing for the Wolfpack men’s team after transferring from Elon. He averaged 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds as a senior during the 2008-09 season.