Adell Harris

Adell Harris joined the men’s basketball program as its chief of staff in 2019. The 2023-24 season is her fifth at Vanderbilt.

Harris works closely with head coach Jerry Stackhouse to ensure program goals and initiatives are met. She acts as the primary support contact to all members of the Vanderbilt men’s basketball staff. Harris also oversees internal and external communications within all facets of the program while managing all aspects of student-athlete welfare, academic success, and career development initiatives. Harris is the program’s name, image and likeness liaison. She spearheads branding and marketing efforts, assists with fundraising, and coordinates special events.

Harris has been instrumental in the program’s continued academic progress, resulting in increased SEC Academic Honor Roll recognitions, back-to-back SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipients as well as several CoSIDA Academic All-District recognitions.

Prior to Vanderbilt, Harris served as head coach of the UNC-Wilmington women’s basketball program from 2012-17 and was the head coach at Tusculum from 2009-12.

While at UNC-Wilmington, she became one of the nation’s youngest NCAA Division I coaches at the age of 31. She amassed over 100 career wins as a head coach while also graduating every senior she coached.

Harris is also a published author and public speaker. Her book “Refuse to Lose – 7 Steps to Make Adversity Your Advantage” is an Amazon best seller.

A four-year letter winner at Wake Forest, Harris played in 106 games during her career with the Demon Deacons from 1998-2002. She paced head coach Charlene Curtis’ squad with 108 assists and averaged 4.6 points per game during her senior season as co-captain. Harris, who finished her career 10th on the Wake Forest career assists chart, graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.