FAMU's Harris seeks long-term success

Photo: FAMU head basketball coach Eugene Harris

By Heath A. Smith, DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Eugene Harris, Florida A&M's new men's basketball coach, spent last weekend in Atlanta doing what perhaps he does best - looking for talent.

“We have to hit the ground running,” Harris said Thursday at his introduction press conference. “There is a big AAU tournament in Atlanta with 18 teams. Coaches have called me to see some of their players play.”

The success the basketball program has enjoyed (two MEAC Tournament Championships in four years) under former coach Mike Gillespie Sr. was largely due to recruiting junior-college players and transfers from major conference programs.

Terrence Woods, a transfer from Tennessee, was FAMU's most prolific three-point shooter and led the Rattlers to the Big Dance in 2003.

The nucleus of FAMU's 2007 MEAC Tournament championship team was made up of Darius Glover and Brian Greene from the junior-college ranks and Rome Sanders, a transfer from Northern Illinois.

Harris said his goals for are higher than just getting to the prestigious NCAA tournament. He wants to lead the Rattlers past the first round of the tournament and into the Sweet 16.

He said he doesn't plan to assemble the team through transfers or junior-college players, however.

“I have no problem with junior-college players, but my program will be built on high-school players,” Harris said. “That's how I've always built the programs at the previous schools I've worked at. I'm not a quick-fix guy.”

Harris' resume includes Clemson from the ACC and Alabama and Auburn from the SEC. All three have big-time name recognition and deep recruiting pockets to go after the nation's top high-school talent.

FAMU must play those types of schools just to support its program, and even they don't make the Sweet 16 on a consistent basis.

Even Harris' alma mater, Florida State, with all its resources, struggles to make the NCAA tourney. It's been 10 years since FSU was invited to the Big Dance.

While Harris realizes he faces an uphill battle to lure the type of talent necessary to make the Rattlers one of the nation's top team, he says he is committed to doing it his way. He's also prepared to be patient.

“It will take at least two good recruiting seasons,” Harris said. “I don't count this season because we've already missed 12 days going into the homes.”

FAMU President James Ammons said he is on board with Harris' recruiting philosophy.

“He reinforced all of our thoughts during his interview,” Ammons said. “We're going to support him and make sure he is successful. Our philosophy here at Florida A&M is that all of the students here on campus are students first.

“Our goal is for them to graduate and leave here with a degree. Everything we've seen in Coach Harris' background he is about the student part of student athlete.”

Despite the fact that no school from the MEAC has ever reached the Sweet 16, FAMU Athletic Director Nelson Townsend thinks FAMU can be the first and that it can be done Harris' way.

“It is not an unbelievable or unachievable goal,” Townsend said. “It has happened to schools bigger than us and without the resources that we have.

“I think with a new facility coming on line and with the excitement of a recruiting coach we can get those types of players.”