Decatur native Betsy Harris begins her first season as the East Central Community College Lady Warrior basketball head coach in 2022. Harris has amassed a stellar career as a player and coach over the past 30-plus years.

Harris comes to ECCC after an eight-year stint with the Florida Southern Moccasins in Lakeland, Fla. During her tenure, she led the Moccasins to a 169-63 record including six consecutive NCAA DII Tournament appearances, including an Elite Eight run in 2015. Along with tournament appearances, the Moccasins won back-to-back Sunshine State Conference regular-season and tournament titles, climbed to as high as No. 6 in the WBCA Coaches Poll, and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA South Regional Tournament during the 2018-19 season. 

Harris' teams have historically lit up the scoreboard with her Florida Southern teams ranking top-50 nationally in scoring on multiple occasions, including ranking 18th nationally in 2018-19 with over 77 points per game. Her efforts as a coach have landed Harris Women's Basketball Coaching Association (WBCA) South Region Coach of the Year in 2018-19, and Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Coach of the Year honors on three occasions (2015-16, 2017-18, 2018-19). 

Prior to her historic tenure at Florida Southern, Harris spent three seasons as the head coach at College Coastal Georgia, an NAIA program. She led the Mariners to a 68-27 record and was the first coach in the school history to qualify a team for the NAIA National Tournament after a 24-9 season in 2012-13. 

Harris got into coaching as an assistant coach at the University of West Alabama where she served for two seasons (1999-01). She also made stops at Troy (2001-02) and here at East Central (2002-03) before returning to West Alabama for seven seasons from 2003-10. She also spent one season at Meridian Community College (2010-11) prior to taking the position at Coastal Georgia. 

As a player at Decatur High School, Harris was an all-state player and led the Warriors to their first-ever Mississippi Class 2-A state championship in 1990 before moving on to the University of Alabama where she was a standout player for the Crimson Tide. She helped lead Alabama to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Final Four showing in 1994. She was selected Second-Team All-SEC, earned MVP honors at the NCAA Midwest Regional, and was named to the Final Four all-tournament team.

While at Alabama, Harris set the school record for three-pointers with 272, tied for most threes in one game with eight, has the top two single-season records for three-pointers made, and ranks seventh in career scoring with 1,519 points. During her seasons she was nominated for the Wade Trophy, given to the Division I player of the year and she participated in trials for the U.S. National Team.

Upon her graduation from Alabama, she continued her playing career for four seasons with teams in Greece, Iceland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Harris graduated from Alabama with a bachelor's degree in sports management in 1995 and her master's degree in teaching from West Alabama in 2001.