Longtime Norland girls’ basketball coach honored with Herald Lifetime Achievement Award
Never take anything for granted.
That was a lesson Carla Harris always instilled in the girls’ basketball players she coached for three decades at Miami Norland.
It was a philosophy that helped the Vikings persevere on the court and eventually win back-to-back state titles in 2009 and 2010 after coming up short multiple times in previous years.
And it’s a lesson in life that helped numerous student-athletes including talented players such as former Norland guard Brittanny Dinkins, now a professional player internationally.
“I remember (Dinkins) was being highly recruited by colleges, but her discipline wasn’t there,” Harris said. “I must have kicked her out of the gym more than once. But I knew the potential she had and I wanted her to realize it. She told me she didn’t wanna be the weakest link academically on the team. She tore her ACL going into junior year. She came back and worked all summer on and off the court to come back and took us to state the next year.
“Our relationship today, it’s almost like she’s my mentor now.”
Dinkins, who went on to play college basketball at Southern Mississippi and later in Iceland and Chile, is one of dozens of examples of the lives Harris has touched during her time at Norland.
For her distinguished career on and off the court, Harris is being honored as one of the Miami Herald’s 2024-25 Lifetime Achievement Award honorees.
Harris stepped down as Norland’s coach before this past season after coaching the Vikings for 25 years as head coach and another five prior to that under the late Jim Wilson.
Harris, who now serves as assistant dean of discipline at Norland, her alma mater, played for Wilson in high school, and went on to a standout career at the University of Miami under then-coach Ferne Labati.
After graduating from UM, Harris returned to her alma mater to coach with her mentor, Wilson.
She became head coach in 2000 and spent the next 25 seasons helping the Vikings become one of the state’s premier programs.
“I remember going into my academic advisor’s office at UM, and I asked what do I have to do to be a high school coach,” Harris said. “She said, go back and be a teacher. That sounded good to me.”
Harris led Norland to its lone state titles and an undefeated season in its first championship season in 2009. She also led the Vikings to three more state runner-up finishes in 2006, 2007 and 2012 and three more state semifinal appearances in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
Harris’ teams also won four GMAC championships and 23 district titles including a stretch of 16 consecutive district titles from 2001-2015, during which her teams did not lose a district game.
“I was so busy plugging away all the time when it was happening,” Harris said. “Now, I get to sit back and reflect on some amazing times.”
Harris coached numerous athletes who went on to play college basketball and professionally including former WNBA player, Tombi Bell, and others like Dinkins, who would become standouts abroad.
For Harris, it meant more than just teaching young women about basketball.
“It’s amazing. We have an alumni picnic and when they announced I was stepping down,” Harris said. “So many of the young ladies came out and reminded me about what it’s all really about.
They still reach out to me about things going on in their lives. It was always more than just about basketball.”
