Jon Harper, Jennifer Sullivan join Lady Vols staff

Kellie Harper speaks during a news conference introducing her as the head coach of the Lady Vols on April 10 in Knoxville.
Kellie Harper speaks during a news conference introducing her as the head coach of the Lady Vols on April 10 in Knoxville.

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee women's basketball coach Kellie Harper announced the first two assistants for her staff Monday evening: her husband Jon Harper and Jennifer Sullivan.

The three have experience working together, having coached at Missouri State for five seasons.

Jon has worked with his wife for a total of 16 seasons - as assistants together at Auburn and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before Kellie's head-coaching stops at Western Carolina, North Carolina State and Missouri State.

Sullivan worked as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at Missouri State from 2013 to 2018. She spent last season as an assistant at Ohio State.

"I am really pleased to announce the addition of Jon Harper and Jennifer Sullivan as assistant coaches on the Lady Vol coaching staff," Kellie Harper said. "In addition to each of them bringing different strengths to the table, there is a proven record of us working well together as a team to build measurable success in a program. Loyalty and trust are key components in how we operate every single day.

"Jennifer possesses great character, has a tremendous way with people and is very intelligent and efficient in how she goes about her work. Jon is terrific with game flow as well as time and score, and he displays a persistent coaching approach. I am excited to work beside them but even more excited for our players to have the opportunity to learn from Jennifer and Jon."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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