All-American Haris Price joins Mincey’s coaching staff

VIDEO: Haris Price Interview

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Haris Price, one of four two-time All-Americans in program history, has been added to Mike Mincey's women's basketball coaching staff announced Thursday by the eight-year mentor to join Tatum Burstrom on the three-person crew.

"Basketball is something that has always been a part of my life," Price said. "This summer I had the opportunity to train some kids and watch them improve. That's when I really realized that coaching might be something that I am very interested in doing.

"Mincey and Tatum have done a great job the last three years at being them two. I think it's a great opportunity for myself to learn from those two. It's going to be great to have a third voice in conversations of scouting and recruiting."

Price became the first player in Carson-Newman's NCAA era to be named an All-American twice in her career after bringing home first-team laurels as a junior when she was named a WBCA honorable mention All-American on March 25. The last time the Lady Eagles had a multi-time winner was Karen Morton who earned the honors in 1985 and 1986.

Overall she is the fourth player in the history of the school to be given the highest honors multiple times during her playing days in the Orange and Blue. Missy Brown was the first to achieve the plaudits in 1981 and 1982. Lisa Stogner is the lone three-time winner doing so in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

The 2018-19 first-team all-conference pick became the fifth player in the history of the school to earn a slot on the first team All-South Atlantic Conference unit multiple times in her career after being on the club as a junior. The Gatlinburg, Tenn. native ranked sixth in the country in free-throw percentage at 90 percent on the season. She was second in scoring at 18.7, second in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.89, second in field goals made at 209, second in field-goal percentage at 52 and third in steals at 64.

After being a first-team All-American last season, the point guard shot a higher percentage from the field and the charity stripe while scoring more points than 2017-18. Price has scored in double figures 24 times including three with at least 30 points.

The three-time SAC Player of the Week become the first C-N player in 40 years to score at least 40 points when she dropped 44 at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 2 going 16-for-26 from the field scoring 31 in the second half. The last Lady Eagle to accomplish the feat was Data Caldwell's school-record 47 on Feb. 22, 1979, 790 games and 14,592 days prior. Roughly a month earlier, Price went for 39 points on 16-for-20 shooting against Catawba.

The senior ended her career seventh on the scoring list with 1,382 and 1,703 in her college career. She finished tied for fifth on the three-pointers list with 131 and eighth in assists with 342. Overall, Price scored in double figures 77 times in her career with 26 of those featuring at least 20-point efforts. She led the team in scoring 29 times producing 90 games with at least three assists and 38 with at least steals.

A two-time first-team all-region selection, Price joined Brooke Johnson in 2004-05 and Leah Jackson in 1992-93 as the only three players in the history of the program to win a player of the year plaudit as was named the SAC's Co-Player of the Year in 2017-18.

Adding to the laundry list of honors, she was a six-time SAC Player of the Week, 2018 SAC All-Tournament team member and 2018 NCAA Tournament Southeast Region All-Tournament team pick. 

Price joins a recent run of honor-laden assistants. Burstrom, who will enter her fourth year at the helm in 2019-20, was a three-time All-SAC pick during her playing days at Mossy Creek. Prior to Burstrom, Ashley Kyle, a two-time All-SAC selection, spent two years on the bench in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

The Lady Eagles are set to tee it up for the 2019-20 season with an exhibition affair in Knoxville against the Tennessee Lady Volunteers on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m.

- CN -