Southeast women's basketball assistant leaves for new post

Southeast Missouri State women's basketball coach John Ishee is in the market for a lead assistant coach.

Chris Harris, Ishee's top assistant and recruiting coordinator for the past two seasons, recently left to take over the women's basketball program at Volunteer State Community College.

Ishee said Harris was looking to get closer to home and he found it at VSCC in Gallatin, Tenn., about 25 minutes from Nashville. Harris is a Nashville native.

"It's not every day you get to be a head coach and to get to be where you basically grew up," Ishee said. "We appreciate his service the past two years. He was a big part of our recruiting and on the floor coaching. He'll be missed. We wish him the best."

The 36-year-old Harris, who has family in Gallatin, told the News Examiner of Tennessee that he enjoyed his time at Southeast but felt this was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"At SEMO, I had a great boss that I enjoyed working for. I wasn't actively looking for a head job," Harris told the newspaper. "This just kind of opened up. It fit what I was looking for in a lot of different areas.

"That's what this job brings, a chance to be close to home and hopefully retire here. For me, it was just a good fit and an opportunity to be head coach again."

Remaining on Ishee's staff are Jayme Callahan and Elizabeth Cansdale. Both will be entering their second seasons at Southeast.

"I think they are both very capable and very talented," Ishee said. "I think we still have a very good staff intact. We hope to add someone to complete the staff before the season starts."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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