Track & Field
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach of Cross Country / Assistant Track & Field Coach
- Email:
- Jebreh.harris@usc.edu
- Phone:
- (213) 458-9335
Jebreh Harris is in his third season as USC's associate head coach of cross country and assistant track and field coach for distances, fourth overall, being promoted to the current position by Director of Track & Field Quincy Watts in the summer of 2021. Harris was originally named the assistant coach for distances and cross country with the USC track and field program on Oct. 21, 2020.
During the 2023 track and field season, Trojans set 11 personal bests in the 800m, 1500m or one-mile races. Bobby Poynter ran the third-fastest all-time USC men’s 1500m race of 3:42.75. He also guided Gigi Maccagnini to second on USC’s all-time indoor 800m list with a time of 2:05.11, seventh on the Trojan indoor mile list at 4:56.09 and ninth on the outdoor 1500m list with a time of 4:22.30. In the Fall, the cross country team developed a young squad and hosted a very successful Pac-12 Cross Country Championships in Riverside, Calf. The Trojans placed third at the Mark Covert Classic to open the cross country season, tied for the best finish for USC since the Pepperdine Invitational in 2016.
In his second season at the helm of the distance program, Harris led USC athletes to a pair of school records. The women’s 4x800m relay team of Janiah Brown, Gigi Maccagnini, Jemima Russell and Alyssa Brewer placed third in the 4x800m relay at the Texas Relays with a time of 8:38.89. Also, Brewer set the women’s indoor 800m record with a time of 2:04.81, while Maccagnini ran the fifth-fastest indoor 800m time of 2:06.40 and Brown the 10th-fastest time of 2:10.30. For the men’s team, Bobby Poynter entered into the USC all-time indoor top 10 in the 800m, 1500m and 1-mile, as well as Jack Carter in the 800m and Dylan Gatua in the 3000m. During the outdoor season, all four Trojan male 800m runners set PRs. During the cross country season, USC hosted the Pac-12 Cross Country Championships and three Trojans set personal bests in the race. As a team, the Trojans placed third at the Mark Covert Invitational, tying for the best USC team finish since winning the 2016 Pepperdine Invitational.
In his first season at USC which didn't begin until late October, Harris guided Isaiah Jewett to a berth on the U.S. Olympic team and to the NCAA and Pac-12 men's 800m titles. Jewett set the school record with a time of 1:44.68 to earn the first NCAA 800m title by a Trojan on June 11, then broke it with a time of 1:43.85 on June 21 at the U.S. Team Trials to finish second and make the U.S. Olympic team for the Tokyo Olympics. Jewett improved over two seconds in his one season working with Harris and broke the school record by more than a second, a record which had stood for 33 years. George Gleason in his one season of working with Harris posted two USC all-time top 10 times, running the third-fastest 5000m time of 14:12.16 and the fifth-fastest 1500m time ever by a Trojan of 3:4 4.15. Alyssa Brewer and Jemima Russell both advanced to the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in the women's 800m.
Harris came to USC from Illinois, where he served as an assistant coach for middle distances and long sprints the two previous seasons. Prior to his stint at Illinois Harris was the head cross country and assistant track and field coach at UNLV from 2012-18. He was also the recruiting coordinator at UNLV for both the track and cross country programs. In addition he served at the 2019 U20 Pan American women’s distance coach, the 2018 IAAF U20 World Team men’s distance coach and the 2016 U23 NACAC event manager.
In his short time at Illinois, Harris coached freshman Tracy Towns to one of the top 1000m times in program history (2:49.16), later that indoor season Towns scored in the 2020 Big 10 Indoor Championships while racing in the 800m. Also at the 2020 Big 10 Indoor Championships, Harris’ event group contributed to scoring points for the Fighting Illini in the men’s and women’s DMR. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, the outdoor season was cancelled. At the 2019 Big 10 Indoor Championships the Illini Women’s DMR took third place with Felicia Phillips contributing on the 400m leg. Konrad Eiring placed first in the 1000m at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational earning him a personal best time in the event (2:26.10).
In his time at UNLV, Harris coached Avi’Tal Wilson-Perteete to the second fastest NCAA 800m time of 2:01.14. Wilson-Perteete earned second-team All-America honors in the 800m for both the indoor and outdoor seasons and broke the Mountain West record in the 800m. Harris also coached Kaysee Pilgrim to a third-place finish in the high jump at NCAA Championships in 2017 and she posted a PR of 6-2.75 earlier that season. Pilgrim earned first-team All-American honors in the high jump and set the Conference record in the high jump.
In total, Harris coached five individual and five relay MWC Conference Champions and 20 All-Conference track and field performances at UNLV. He assisted in leading the UNLV track & field program to the Mountain West Conference Indoor Championship title in 2018. Harris coached UNLV school records in six events: the indoor and outdoor Distance Medley Relay (DMR), indoor 800m, indoor 600m, indoor 5k and outdoor high jump. The 2018 indoor DMR team clocked a time of 11:31.59A, breaking a previous school record that had stood for 20 years.
Before UNLV, Harris spent two years at South Carolina State as assistant head coach of cross country and track & field. He coached Seymour Walter when Walter broke the U.S. Virgin Islands national record in the 800m, posting a time of 1:49.19. Walter went on to compete at NACAC U23, CAC, and World University Games for the USVI. Harris also coached the women’s cross-country team to runner-up in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. He coached Brittany Stewart to an outdoor 5K conference title, and to a second-place finish at cross country conference championships. 23 school records were broken in his tenure at SCSU.
Harris began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach for five years at the University of Tennessee. In 2005, he was on a staff under cross country coach, George Watts where the cross-country team made its first NCAA Championships appearance in three seasons. As a volunteer coach he assisted Tennessee in achieving a team title at the 2003 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championship.
A native of Decatur, Georgia, Harris ran collegiately at the University of Tennessee, where he earned his undergraduate degree in graphic design in 2002. He was a two-time NCAA All-American in the distance medley and the 4x400m relay. He helped lead the team to both NCAA and SEC Outdoor Championships team titles in 2001. Harris also competed at Alabama State prior to Tennessee where he earned all-conference awards in cross country and track & field.
Following college he had a strong professional career which included being ranked No. 2 in the U.S. in the 800m in 2007 and posting a PR of 1:45.56. He competed in two U.S. Olympic Trials finals in the 800m (2004 & 2008) and at seven USATF Championships in total. He ran the leadoff leg for USA’s 4x800m relay team which set the U.S. record with a time of 7:02.82 at the Memorial Van Damme Meet in Brussels, Belgium on August 25, 2006, a record which still stands.
