BECKLEY, West Virginia — WVU Tech and Director of Athletics
Kenneth Howell are excited to introduce
Joel Harris as head wrestling coach for the Golden Bears. Coach Harris enters the position with over two decades of coaching experience that spans from the club level, middle and high school to college.
Harris has served as assistant coach at WVU Tech for the past four seasons, helping lead the team to an Appalachian Athletic Conference team runner up finish in 2020 and coaching four individual national qualifiers in the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas.
He began his coaching career in 1995 as Head Coach at Greenbrier West High School, his alma mater and later at Oak Hill High School in 2000. Coach Harris helped develop multiple individual state place winners, state champions and regional and conference championship teams during this term.
In 2013, Harris began working as a school administrator. While working as a principal at the middle school level he continued to work with local wrestling teams. He had the opportunity to coach his two sons, Tanner and Troy, during successful middle school and high school careers, also coaching his oldest son Tanner at WVU Tech.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education from West Virginia University in 1993 where he was a member of the wrestling team. He later earned a Master of Arts degree from Marshall University in Leadership Studies in 2001 and a Doctor of Education degree from Marshall in Leadership Studies in 2011.
The Golden Bears will begin their 2022-2023 campaign Saturday, November 5 when they travel Williamsburg, Kentucky for the Patriot Open hosted by University of the Cumberlands.
