Oak Ridge Today

Roane State’s Harnish gets 800th career win

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Members of the Lady Raiders basketball team congratulate Roane State Community College Coach David Harnish on his 800th career win. From left to right are Cassidy Gilmore, Chloe Roark, Catherine Hendershott, Coach Harnish, Korbin Witherspoon, and Shelbi Smith. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

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Call him Mr. 800.

Roane State Lady Raiders head women’s basketball coach David Harnish earned his 800th career win last week with a 74-56 victory over conference foe Motlow College.

Now in his third season at the helm of the Lady Raiders program, Harnish is the seventh-winningest coach in women’s NJCAA basketball history and the fourth-winningest active coach.

After the win, Harnish said, “I owe a lot of people a lot of credit for the success of 800 wins, and I certainly couldn’t have done it alone.”

The veteran coach began his coaching career as a men’s assistant at Western Nebraska Community College in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. Then, in 1988, he was named head coach of Western Nebraska’s women’s team, where he posted an amazing 23-4 record in his rookie season.

That was the start of 28 consecutive 20-win seasons, including nine seasons with 30 wins or more.

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Roane State names head women’s basketball coach

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David Harnish

David Harnish

 

David Harnish, Roane State’s new head women’s basketball coach, will hit the hardwood running as he assumes his new duties.

But for this Colorado native, it’s a return to what he loves doing and does so well. Harnish, 60, was the coach of the Western Nebraska Community College’s women’s team for 29 years and built a remarkable career record of 764 wins and 155 losses.

In 2003, his team played in the national championship title game before coming up short and finishing second in the nation. He has coached 14 All-Americans and more than 40 All-Region student athletes.

“We are extremely fortunate to have a coach coming in who has taken his former school to the NJCAA Division I tournament and has enjoyed such great, long-term success,” Roane State Athletic Director Randy Nesbit said. [Read more…]