Taylor Harris will begin his third season at the helm of Fort Lewis College women's basketball in 2023-24.
The Skyhawks were 9-19 overall in the 2022-23 season while going 6-16 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. Fort Lewis secured a season sweep over Western Colorado with wins on December 3 (64-57) and February 10 (69-53). The team owned a 5-7 record at home--the best home record win 2019-20. Fort Lewis ranked 20th in NCAA Division II in average home attendance (905).
Harris guided freshman Lanae Billy to a standout campaign where she was one of three freshmen to earn All-RMAC recognition. The Second-Team honoree established herself as one of the league's top shooters by averaging 16 points per-game average to rank fifth in the conference. She recorded double-digit points in 22 games, including 10 games with 20+ points. Junior Kelsey Sorenson was selected to the Honorable Mention team after putting up career numbers in points per game (12.7) and rebounds per game (7.0)—marks that ranked 13th and 11th in the conference, respectively. Sorenson was named First-Team All-Academic while the group of Ember Cervantes, Brooke McGee, Tayla Nez, and Samantha Wattawa earned a spot on the Academic Honor Roll.
Fort Lewis went 2-25 overall in the 2021-22 season while holding a 1-20 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The team won its home opener in 61-44 fashion over Northern New Mexico College in the Nike N7 Game which celebrates Native American Heritage. The overall record doesn't adequately reflect the grit that was displayed by the young Skyhawks squad as the team dropped eighth games by three points or less throughout the year.
Harris guided senior Sydney Candelaria to her most productive season in the blue and gold, elevating her points per game 8.3 in 2020-21 to 21.4 in her finale. Candelaria led the conference and ranked fifth in NCAA Division II with her scoring clip. The Albuquerque, New Mexico native put up double-digit points in all but two games on the year while eclipsing the 30-point mark on four occasions. Candelaria finished her career eighth all-time in scoring and first all-time in single-season scoring with 578 points.
Harris came to Durango from Miles Community College, where he guided the 2020-21 Pioneers to a Region XIII Championship, a 24-2 overall record, and a Sweet 16 appearance at the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.
Fort Lewis College was a desired destination for Harris, who has extensive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference ties from his time as a women's basketball assistant coach at Regis University (2015-19) and a men's assistant coach at Metropolitan State University of Denver (2009-2015).
During his time at Miles Community College, Harris led the Pioneers to an overall record of 43-15 (.741) and a 30-5 mark (.857) in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference. His program has also ranked No. 2 among NJCAA teams in GPA for the 2019-20 academic year (3.771) while being active in the community, accumulating 365 total hours of community service since September of 2019.
A native of Denver, Colorado, Harris has demonstrated to be a proven winner in the RMAC as he helped lead the Regis women's basketball program to a record of 74-44 (.637) during his four seasons as an assistant under Molly Marrin.
Regis advanced to three RMAC Tournament semi-finals (2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19) during that stretch and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament in 2016-17 with a 23-8 overall record.
Prior to his time with the Rangers, Harris was a men's assistant coach at MSU Denver under 2013 NABC National Coach of the Year, Derrick Clark. The Roadrunners put together a dominating stretch during Harris' six seasons, compiling an overall record of 161-33 (.830) while advancing to the NCAA Division II National Tournament Final Four in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
In total, MSU Denver won four RMAC regular season championships, three RMAC Tournament championships and earned six NCAA Division II National Tournament appearances during Harris' tenure.
