SIU-Edwardsville made a move at head coach on Friday night as they hired Cal assistant coach Jon Harris, the school announced.
Harris, an Edwardsville native, was an assistant coach under Cuonzo Martin at Cal, Tennessee and Missouri State
“I am extremely humbled and excited for the opportunity to become the next head men’s basketball coach at SIUE,” Harris said in the release. “I feel this is a tremendous institution where students receive an impactful degree. When you couple that with great leadership, a warm community, and a very good basketball league, you can see why I aggressively pursued the position. My family and I are looking forward to being a part of the Cougar family.”
The new head coach of the Cougars took to Twitter on Friday night to make his announcement.
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It's GO TIME Cougars!! I couldn't be more excited to be your head coach. #LetsGetIt #SIUENation
— Jon Harris (@JonJ_Harris) April 4, 2015
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Being an Edwardsville native should help Harris immediately connect with the local area when it comes to recruiting. SIU-Edwardsville is also in an interesting recruiting ground because it’s in the St. Louis metro area while also being close enough to recruiting hotbeds like Kansas City and Chicago to pull talent from there as well.
Alabama assistant John Brannen was the other finalist for the job before the school decided on Harris.