91¶ÌÊÓƵ

Corie Holmes BS ’13 | Athletics

91¶ÌÊÓƵ Athletics announced the hiring of Velaida Harris as the new head coach of the women’s basketball team on July 17, 2018.Wildcat magazine caught up with Harris outside the Dee Events Center a little over two months later on Oct. 5, about an hour before practice. “23 to go,” Harris said, smiling, meaning 23 practices left until game day.

She wasn’t nervous. She was excited.

“We are working to get better every day,” Harris said, “on the court, in the classroom and the community. I love the attitudes each person on the team has, and I know they are hungry, which excites me as a coach.”

Harris brings more than 25 years of coaching experience to Weber State, including nine seasons at the Division I collegiate level, with six years in the state of Utah. She is the sixth head coach in Weber State women’s basketball history and is the first African-American woman to be named a Division I collegiate head coach of any sport in Utah.

“I’m so grateful and thankful for the opportunity to lead the WeberState women’s basketball program,” she said. “I’m excited to build on the momentum and continue to grow this program. Right now we are focused on putting forth maximum effort, increasing individual skill development and fitness, and learning the system. I am happy to see these young women work hard andimprove.”

Only about half of the 2018-19 team has experience at the collegiate level. Despite the young team, Harris has great expectations for the Wildcat program.

“My expectation for this team is to play hard and play together, laying the foundation for future teams,” she said. “I want our young kids to learn, grow and play their hearts out for their teammates who took great care of them this summer when they didn’t have a head coach. I know our young kids want to play well for them, especially the two seniors, Emily Drake and Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman.”

Harris said the community has been great and that she and her team are working hard for the fans, one of whom she met as we were finishing up outside The Dee. “He walks here every day,” she said, and then she jogged over to his car. She stopped him

before he headed home, introduced herself, and they spoke for a moment. He wished her good luck on the season.

“Thank you so very much,” she said. “I really appreciate that. I’m very grateful to be here.”