Athletic Director Lamel Harris is entering his third semester at San Jose City College and he is working to improve and maintain all sports programs on campus.
\nHarris plans to bring a formal academic program to SJCC. With this new potential program, he suggested following student athletes on an academic level by communicating with the teachers and guiding students down a road of success.
\n\u201cIf we get the students rooted in early, we\u2019re going to reap success,\u201d Harris said.
\nBorn in Culver, Calif., and raised in San Francisco, Harris\u2019s family moved to San Jose where he attended Pioneer High School and played for the school\u2019s basketball team.
\n\u201cI tried to recruit him to come to SJCC to play basketball for me when he was 18 years old,\u201d said Percy Carr, head coach for men\u2019s basketball, but Harris chose to go to West Valley. \u201cHe was a good player, good athlete, very physical and could shoot the ball.\u201d
\nHarris attended Carrol College in Helena, Mont. on a basketball scholarship.
\nAfter two seasons of basketball, he focused on school and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in social work in 1998.
\nHarris then spent time employed in social services, where he worked with the state helping foster children.
\nAfter three years of working as a social worker, Harris wanted to go back to the game for which he was most passionate about, basketball.
\n\u201cI got the itch to get back in athletics after three years of working,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI said that was my passion.\u201d
\nHe accepted a basketball assistant coaching job at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, Calif. After four years of coaching, Harris was offered the assistant to the athletic director position at Dominguez Hills.
\n\u201cOne of my mentors, who was the AD (athletic director) at the time, said he thought I was a good leader and that I should put the coaching aside,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThat\u2019s when I went down the administrative track.\u201d
\nIn 2001 Harris was offered the assistant athletic directing job at Dominguez Hills, where he learned the tools of the trade.
\n\u201cFrom there I felt I could lead a department,\u201d Harris said.
\nAfter six years as assistant athletic director and liaison for athletic facilities, Harris had another job offer.
\nHe accepted an athletic directing job at College of the Sequoias, located in Visalia, Calif., in 2007.
\nAfter six years in Visalia, Harris was offered the athletic directing job at SJCC.
\nCarr said that Harris brought a lot of energy to the department along with a sense of togetherness.
\nFor only 10 athletic teams, Harris said the school has had a lot of success.
\n\u201cTheres a lot of good history and tradition here at City, I\u2019m inspired to get that successful passion back,\u201d Harris said.
\nHis passion and experience put him in a good position as athletic director.
\n\u201cHe has alignment for the kinesiology program,\u201d Carr said. \u201cHe is always keeping us informed of any changes that are going to made and put us in the right direction to follow the said changes.\u201d
\nFor the past 10 years, the athletic directing position has been filled with part-time sports coaches.
\nOne advantage that Carr believes Harris has over previous directors is the fact that he has more time to dedicate to responsibilities beyond coaching.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s been a blessing for us, to have a full-time person in the position he (Harris) is in,\u201d Carr said.
\nFrom attending meetings to maintaining and providing for all sports equally, Carr said Harris can fulfill his duties more efficiently than previous directors.
\nWith another semester in the books for Harris, he looks forward to next season and continuing the campus tradition of success in sports.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of history and a good tradition,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI\u2019m inspired to get that passion back to (San Jose) City.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Athletic Director Lamel Harris is entering his third semester at San Jose City College and he is working to improve and maintain all sports programs on campus. Harris plans to bring a formal academic program to SJCC. With this new potential program, he suggested following student athletes on an academic level by communicating with the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":88916,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"staff_name":[634],"class_list":["post-9626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","staff_name-zach-tatar"],"yoast_head":"\n