The Community College of Rhode Island today announced Rick Harris will not return as head men’s basketball coach for the 2022–23 season.
Marcus Douthit, a former Providence College standout who played professionally for 14 seasons and joined CCRI in 2019–20 under Harris, will begin the upcoming season as the men’s interim head coach.
“Rick has had an outstanding coaching career at CCRI and is a first-class individual,” said CCRI Director of Athletics Kevin Salisbury. “We are certainly grateful to Rick for his work with the men’s basketball program and the way in which he represented the college through his tenure. We have a great deal of respect for Rick and wish him and his family the very best.”
Just the third coach in the program’s history, Harris enjoyed tremendous success at CCRI, winning 301 games over the span of 15 seasons between 2006 and 2022 (excluding 2020–21 when the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Harris finished his tenure with a .638 win percentage, second only to Hall of Fame coach Vin Cullen, and led the Knights to eight Region XXI championships, three Northeast District championships, and four appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Tournament appearances (2007–08, 2011–12, 2019–20, and 2021–22), including a trip to the National Championship game in 2011–12.
With only three sophomores on the roster following a year-long layoff due to the pandemic, Harris led the 2021–22 Knights to a 23-5 finish, regional and district championships, and a No. 3 seed in the NJCAA Tournament, where they finished sixth overall following a 76-75 loss to top-seeded Riverland Community College in the consolation bracket.
Among Harris’ other accolades, the Knights set a school record for wins in a season with 31 in 2011–12 and won 18 consecutive games in 2018–19, culminating in a 28-4 finish and a trip to the Region XXI championship game.
Prior to joining CCRI, Harris spent more than 20 years coaching high school basketball in Rhode Island, winning 230 games at Cranston East High School from 1990–2006, including four Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) Division I championships (1997, 2000, 2003, and 2004), and earning the Rhode Island Basketball Coaches Association (RIBCA) Coach of the Year Award in 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, and 2004.
At Providence, Douthit played four seasons under head coach Tim Welsh from 2000–2004, appeared in the 2004 NCAA Tournament for the fifth-seeded Friars, and earned the team’s Marvin Barnes Defensive Player Award in his junior and senior seasons.
A second-round selection in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers, Douthit played professionally in Belgium, Turkey, Russia, Asia, and the Philippines in addition to one year in the then NBA Development League (now known as the G League) for the Albuquerque Thunderbirds under head coach and former Laker Michael Cooper in 2005–06.
Release Courtesy CCRI Athletics
