Auburn fires head women’s basketball coach Johnnie Harris after four seasons

 

 

Not even 24 hours removed from their final game of the 2024-25 season, Auburn women’s basketball remains in the news cycle.

 

On Thursday, Auburn fired head women’s basketball coach Johnnie Harris, according to a release from the university.

 

Harris spent four years with the program, compiling a record of 58-63. Auburn finished the 2024-2025 season 12-18, falling to Florida in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

 

“After a thorough review of our women’s basketball program, I have made the difficult decision that a leadership change is in the best interest of Auburn University,” athletic director John Cohen said in the release. “I thank Johnnie [Harris] for the way she represented Auburn and for her contributions to our women’s basketball program. While these decisions are never easy, the program must move in a new direction.”

 

The release also added that “a national search for a new women’s basketball coach will begin immediately.

 

Auburn was Harris’ first head coaching job, spending time as an assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock, NC State, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Texas. She was at Mississippi State from 2012-2020, where Cohen was the athletic director for part of her duration.

 

While at Auburn, Harris brought the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament once in 2024, the program’s first appearance since 2019. It was also Auburn’s first 20-win season since 2018-2019, highlighted by an upset win over defending national champions LSU.

 

There was optimism for Harris and Auburn to build off that season in 2024-2025, but the Tigers seemed to take a step back.

 

Auburn won just 12 games, the fewest since Harris’s first season in 2021-2022. The Tigers also went a disappointing 3-13 in SEC play, the program’s lowest conference win total since the 2020-2021 campaign, the final season of former coach Terri Williams-Flournoy’s tenure.

 

Injuries ravaged the Tigers in 2024-2025, particularly affecting the offense. Auburn signed standout Arkansas transfer guard Taliah Scott in the offseason, but she only played three games all season due to a wrist injury.

 

Auburn also key guard Kaitlyn Duhon around the midway point of the season. She averaged 7.3 points in eight games, starting 20 games across her three-year career on the Plains.