Johnnie Harris has a tall task ahead of her.

On Saturday, Harris was named the new women’s basketball coach just under a month after Terri Williams-Flournoy was fired on March 4th.

This will mark Harris’ first stint as a head coach.

She inherits a program that went 5-19, going 0-15 in SEC play and losing its last 17 games.

A program that is losing its best player in Unique Thompson — the Auburn double-double and rebound record holder — to the WNBA.

But, Harris is ready for the challenge.

Harris has gone through rebuilds before, and knows what it takes. In her second stint in the SEC, she worked under Gary Blair and with Vic Schaefer as an assistant at Texas A&M, building it into a powerhouse.

Then, her and Schaefer went to Mississippi State in 2012 and built the Bulldogs into a perennial powerhouse before going to Texas.

She’ll bring that valuable experience with her to Auburn.

“Absolutely. It’s worked, it’s what’s worked,” Harris said on if she’ll do some of the same things. “I definitely was a part of that at Mississippi State. Vic Schaefer had me right there with him when he was putting in that blueprint and I’m very comfortable doing that. It’s not even just what I do or what we do, it’s who we are. So it’s something that we’ll definitely put into play.”

As for Harris’ vision for the program, it’s all about toughness.

“My vision for this program is tough, hard-nosed, aggressive basketball players, basketball program,” Harris said. “That’s what I want to have. Somebody that’s tough, hard-nosed, physical, aggressive… And that’s going to take hard work, and we’re going to have to bring it every day. It’s not easy to achieve that but we’re going to get it done.”

And while the SEC remains one of the strongest conferences in women’s basketball, Harris welcomes the competition.

“We’re gonna pick them up from the time they get in town and we’re going to escort them back out,” Harris said with a laugh. “We’re going to play hard, physical and aggressive.”

Guard Honesty Scott-Grayson is the only player who averaged double-figures that will be returning for next season. Though, forward Romi Levy who earned a spot on the All-SEC Freshman team averaging 5.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game will be returning.

For year one, Harris is just looking to compete.

“Our year one goal is to be competitive,” Harris said. “It’s to be competitive night in and night out. When you’re competitive night in and night out, you have a chance. You give yourself a chance. So we definitely want to build on what they did last year. We obviously want to get better.”

And Harris says the players are ready, too, with them asking her from the get-go when they’d start practicing again.

Rebuilding the program will take time, and for Harris, the biggest thing will be bringing in the right players.

“It’s all about recruiting,” Harris said about what it’ll take to start winning.

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