Ohio State senior guard Rikki Harris (1) celebrates following an Ohio State three-pointer during a 92-36 win over the University of New Hampshire Dec. 8, 2022. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Lantern File Photo

Rikki Harris was just a freshman in high school when she suffered her first torn ACL. 

The injury became one of several the five-star prospect has suffered, with this one sidelining her for the entire basketball season. 

Harris wasn’t sure what to do with all the time on her hands.

It was then that her Amateur Athletic Union coach, Josh Gilbert, offered Harris an opportunity to mentor other players while her body recovered.

The experience became one she enjoyed so much that she continued building and improving her coaching skills even after her return to the court, as she began to see a future in coaching, Harris said. 

Now a redshirt senior on the women’s basketball team, Harris’ leadership has contributed to the success that has carried the team to a No. 20 ranking to start the 2023-2024 season. 

Though Harris said she’s not sure if this will be her last year playing as a Buckeye, she does know that her coaching future is getting closer, and when it arrives, she will be ready.

“I’m always going to lead wherever I am,” Harris said.

Growing up in Indianapolis, Harris said she first picked up a basketball at 3 years old and started playing on a boy’s AAU team at age 6. 

Harris spent five years with the iCBallers, an AAU boys’ basketball team, and Gilbert said he remembers having the utmost confidence she was going to be great.

“She was phenomenal,” Gilbert said. “She was the person that could conquer the world.”

Harris said she remained close with Gilbert throughout middle school and into high school, where she played basketball for the North Central Panthers. 

However, Harris’s career with the Panthers got off to a rocky start. 

Before her first year began, Harris suffered a torn ACL — her first of two —  that sidelined her for her entire freshman season, according to BuckeyeSports.  

Harris said she wasn’t sure what to do or to whom to turn. It was then that Gilbert offered her a chance to experience basketball differently, coaching on the sidelines. 

Harris said she served as a middleman between the coaches and players during her time recovering on the sidelines. It was here where she began to grasp a deeper understanding of both sides of the game, she said. 

“I could do this coaching thing for real,” Harris recalls thinking. “That’s going to be my career.”

Harris was ranked No. 29 in the class of 2019 by ESPN HoopGurlz and would go on to commit to the Ohio State women’s basketball team on Dec. 19, 2017. Injury then struck again, with Harris being ruled out to start her Buckeye career after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. 

Sidelined for the fourth time, Harris said this gave her time to study Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff. McGuff said he is grateful for Harris’ passion for leading, he said. 

“She’s done a great job interacting with the staff, helping coach the young players and mentoring them,” McGuff said.

Harris said she is working on obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physical education, teaching and coaching.

In 2021, she said she took it a step further by participating in the Bucks Go Pro 1.0 internship program, where she spent eight summer weeks working in sports operations and coaching for Ohio State women’s volleyball and basketball.

Beth Howe, director of women’s basketball operations, said Harris assisted in setting up and executing a camp where she learned the necessary skills for behind-the-scenes tasks.

“She’s a phenomenal student-athlete on the court and off the court,” Howe said. “[She has] an incredible work ethic to want to be great and want to be the best coach she can be.”

Harris said she hopes to embody the many characteristics of leadership she has seen through McGuff and the rest of the Ohio State coaching staff. She believes the three main pieces of successful coaching are respect, trust and honesty, she added. 

“It’s all about communication, and he is great at that,” Harris said.

McGuff credits honesty and open communication with having good relationships with Harris and other players. He said he sees the same traits in Harris.

“That’s who she is as a person as well,” McGuff said. “She is a very honest person.”

Although this season may be her last in uniform, it will not be her last as a Buckeye. Harris said she plans to continue as a graduate assistant with the team.

“You can tell she loves this program and loves being at Ohio State,” McGuff said. “I do believe in her and I believe she has a bright future.”

Even though her playing days will one day come to an end, Harris said she hopes to find a home in basketball as a coach, preferably on the sidelines, wearing scarlet and gray.

“That would be a dream,” Harris said. “This is like home.