ORLANDO – Tim Harris Jr., who spent the past two seasons as UCF's co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach, has been promoted to assistant head coach in addition to his co-offensive coordinator and running back coach duties, head coach Gus Malzahn announced Thursday.
Harris directed a dominant UCF rushing attack that ranked ninth nationally in rushing offense with 228.3 rushing yards per game in 2022. The Knights rushed for 200 or more yards in nine of their 14 games, headlined by a season-high 345 rushing yards in the win over South Florida.
The Knights' 35 rushing touchdowns were 10th nationally and led the American Athletic Conference.
Under his guidance, running back Isaiah Bowser finished the season with 16 rushing TDs, the second most in a single season in UCF program history and 10th most in the nation. Bowser had plenty of help from RJ Harvey (118 for 796, 5 TDs) as well as speedster Johnny Richardson (54 for 390). Richardson paced the Knights' running back group with a gaudy 6.9-yards-per-carry mark, with Harvey right behind at 6.7.
Bowser in 2022 won second-team All-AAC recognition from conference coaches, while Harvey merited third-team all-league honors from Pro Football Focus. They worked behind an experienced UCF offensive line that saw all five starters earn some sort of all-conference recognition for the second consecutive season.
The group helped UCF rush for 3,196 yards in 2022, just the fourth time UCF has eclipsed 3,000 rushing yards in a single season and third time as an FBS program. The Knights rushed for a program-record 3,448 yards in 2018, 3,287 in 2007 and 3,017 in 1990 (FCS).
Harris' running back corps began 2021 with a bang, as veteran Bowser ran for 172 yards and the game-winning TD in the season-opening comeback win over Boise State and then accounted for four first-half rushing TDs a week later versus Bethune-Cookman. Injuries kept Bowser off the field in five later games—providing more opportunities for Richardson and Marc-Antony Richards late in the year—then Bowser rebounded with a dominating 155-yard, two-TD performance in UCF's Gasparilla Bowl win over Florida.
After adding 110 rushing yards of his own against Florida, Richardson ended up leading the Knights in rushing with 733 yards, ranking seventh in the AAC in all-purpose yardage at 96.92 per game. He earned fourth-team All-AAC honors from Phil Steele. Auburn transfer Richards contributed another 309 yards and scored the game-winning TD in the final minute to help defeat East Carolina.
Harris, an integral part of Florida International's football success the previous half-dozen years (2015-20) as running back coach and eventually offensive coordinator and play-caller, was named co-offensive coordinator and running back coach on Malzahn's new football coaching staff at UCF on Feb. 21, 2021.
In 2020, Harris tutored a Florida International running attack led by Phil Steele third-team all-league selection D'vonte Price, the conference leader in rush yards per carry (6.84). Price also ranked 11th in the nation for rush yards per game after averaging 116.2 yards per contest. He finished over the century mark for rushing in all but one game in 2020, earning a career-high 178 yards against Florida Atlantic.
Harris oversaw a balanced rushing attack in 2019 that produced a pair of NFL players in Anthony Jones and Napoleon Maxwell. He oversaw five of FIU's seven games in program history with two or more running backs over the century mark at the time. Jones continued his success over the course of the season as he strung together a streak of three games over 100 yards rushing, becoming just the second Panther to achieve that feat.
During the 2018 season, Harris developed his unit into one of the most productive ground attacks in Conference USA and one of the most successful in program history. Florida International broke the school's single-season records for rushing TDs (27) and rush yards per carry (4.8), while also logging the second-most rushing yards (2,286) in program history and the second-highest rush-yards-per-game average (175.8).
Harris came to FIU after one year as head coach at Booker T. Washington (Florida) High School in 2014. In his first season as head coach, the Florida Class 4A Coach of the Year (and son of longtime legendary Washington coach and 2012 and 2013 Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year Tim "Ice" Harris) led the Tornadoes to their second-straight 14-0 record, their third-straight Florida 4A state title and a No. 2 final national ranking (USA Today). The Tornadoes capped the title run with a 54-35 state championship win over Jacksonville Bolles.
Harris Jr. was named the 2014 Florida Dairy Farmers Football Coach of the Year, the 2014 Miami Dolphins George Smith South Florida High School Football Coach of the Year, the 2014 NIKE Football State Coach of the Year and a finalist for the 2014 U.S. Army All-American National Coach of the Year.
Harris was a four-time NCAA All-American in the 800 meters and six-time (indoors and outdoors) Atlantic Coast Conference champion in the 800 for the University of Miami track and field team. A 2022 inductee into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame, Harris still holds the 'Canes' indoor record in the 800.
Harris earned a degree in English and creative writing from Miami in 2008. He and his wife Nicolette are parents of a son, Timothy.