Northwestern hires ex-star WR Harris as coach
Northwestern is dipping back into its history for its new coach. Michaelee Harris is returning to his alma mater to coach the Bulls.
Harris, who graduated from Northwestern in the Class of 2010, spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator at
Carol City after previously coaching the Bulls’ wide receivers.
He also has collegiate experience as an analyst at Illinois and graduate assistant at Miami.
Harris replaces former coach Max Edwards, who was fired last month after eight seasons and three state championships in Miami. Harris was part of several of Northwestern’s championship coaching staffs, tutoring former stars such as Romello Brinson and Marcus Fleming, and coordinating the Bulls’ pass game.
As a player, Harris was a star wide receiver and Class 6A champion in 2018, and became a favorite target of quarterback
Teddy Bridgewater, who’s now playing in the NFL. He even went on to play with Bridgewater at Louisville.
Injuries, however, plagued Harris’ time in Kentucky and he transferred to Akron after five seasons with the Cardinals. In Ohio, he again got hurt, so he quickly delved into coaching after his playing career ended, first with the Fighting Illini and then the Hurricanes before he returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach at Northwestern.
The Bulls’ seven state titles are the second most in Miami-Dade County history, but they haven’t been to a title game since winning three in a row from 2017-2019. In three years since winning its last state championship, Northwestern has gone 19-11 and failed to get out of the region playoffs in 2 of 3 seasons.
With Harris leading their offense for the past two years, the Chiefs went 8-14 and averaged 18.9 points per game. Harris was also the track and field coach at Carol City, and is already working with the Bulls’ track team this year.