TJ Harris joined the Lumberjacks and Loree Payne’s staff as an assistant coach in July of 2022. The 2024-25 season will be his third on staff. Harris’s duties include acting as the defensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator, guard development coach, and summer camp director.
The 2023-24 squad set NAU’s single season record with 25 wins and advanced to the program’s second WNIT berth, earning a first round bye. The Lumberjack defense locked down and ranked fourth in the conference in opponent three-point percentage (31%) and fifth in steals per game with 7.44.
On the offensive side, Harris helped coach three guards to All-Big Sky honors. Leia Beattie, the 2021-22 Big Sky Top Reserve of the Year, was named to the second team after averaging 12.0 points, 2.75 assists and five rebounds per game – an improvement from 9.0 ppg, 1.3 apg and 3.0 rpg in 2021-22. Harris also guided Emily Rodabaugh and Olivia Moran to their first career All-Big Sky honors. Rodabaugh averaged 10.5 points and 5.5 while Moran added 8.9 points and three rebounds per game, both earning honorable mention nods.
In 2022-23, Harris and the Lumberjacks won NAU’s first regular championship since 1998, winning the most games since 2005-06 while advancing to the program’s first-ever WNIT. On the defensive side, the Lumberjacks were third in the Big Sky with 27.7 defensive rebounds per game and were fifth in points per possession at 0.818 ppp. Regan Schenck earned first team All-Big Sky honors after being named to the honorable mention squad the year before. Schenck averaged 13.0 points per game, up from 6.5 in 2021-22, and improved her assists per game from 5.9 the prior season to 6.6 in 2022-23.
Before joining the Lumberjacks, Harris spent the 2020-21 season as the assistant coach at Portland State under Chelsey Gregg. With the Vikings, Harris was the co-guard development coach, the academic coordinator, and the compliance coordinator.
In 2020, Harris earned his Master’s degree in education leadership with an emphasis in principalship from Northern Arizona. During that time, he was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Chandler-Gilbert Community College where he coordinated off-season team workouts and worked with the guards and posts on off-season development.
Harris was no stranger to Flagstaff before officially joining the Lumberjacks, as he served as the head boys and girls basketball coach at Northland Preparatory Academy from 2017 to 2020.
He graduated from the University of Great Falls (now University of Providence) in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in secondary education with an emphasis in broad-field science. At UGF, Harris was a first team All-Frontier Conference selection in 2014-15 after earning an honorable mention nod in 2013-14. He scored 1,000 career points, ranks third all-time in assists and is 10th on UGF’s all-time scoring list.
Harris and his wife Elyce have been married for six years and have two daughters, Alessandra and Esmeralda. The family has two shih tzus, Kevin and Russell.
