Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Harry Elifson, a nationally-known women's basketball coach, enters his second season as an assistant coach for the Wright State women's basketball program. Elifson came to WSU after serving on head coach Mike Bradbury's staff during his three-year tenure at Morehead State.
Teaming with Bradbury, the Raiders reached new heights in 2010-11 as WSU played in its first Division I post-season tournament with two games in the Women's Basketball Invitational and secured the program's first 20-win season in Division I.
Elifson became a legendary high school coach and one of the most successful girls basketball coaches in Florida prep history and joined the Morehead State staff after several highly successful seasons at the University of South Florida. Elifson was an assistant coach at USF during the 2000-2003 campaigns and was promoted to Associate Head Coach from 2003-2006. He helped lead the Bulls out of the bottom of the conference standings to three straight postseason appearances, including the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in 2005-06. As a primary recruiter, he landed three top 40 classes, according to the All-Star Girls Report.
While at South Florida, he was instrumental in signing Jessica Dickson, the 2004 Big East Freshman of the Year who has since advanced to play in the WNBA. Elifson also helped mentor USF to its first-ever WNIT berth in 2003-2004 and again helped lead the Bulls to the WNIT in 2004-2005. Also that season, the Bulls posted the program's best-ever record at 21-11.
Elifson made a name for himself coaching at Boca Ciega High School in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he led the girls varsity team from 1989-2000. Taking a team that had fallen on hard times, Elifson completely revitalized the shape of the program, winning two Florida Class 5A state titles in 1995 and 1996 and was a state semifinalist in 1999. During the 1995-96 season, Boca Ciega climbed as high at 18th nationally in the USA Today rankings.
His career record at BCHS was 234-87 (.730 winning percentage), and he coached five players that moved on to Division I schools. In all, 11 of his players earned college athletic scholarships. He led BCHS to three regional titles, three regional runners-up finishes, four conference championships, and 11 district titles.
With his team's success came numerous state and national honors. He was inducted into the Boca Ciega High School Hall of Fame in 2004 and was a finalist for the 1997 National High School Coach of the Year. He earned the National High School Coaches Association Region III Coach of the Year award in 1997 and was awarded the 1996 Florida Coaches Association Coach of the Year. He was also the Pinellas County Coach of the Year in 1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997 and was the St. Petersburg Times Coach of the Year in 1995 while earning the same distinction from the Tampa Tribune in 1995 and 1996. In addition, he has experience coaching the best girls basketball athletes in the nation as he was the head coach of the East team at the 2000 Adidas High School All-American game.
An Iowa native, Elifson attended Clinton High School before earning his bachelor's degree in Physical Education and Driver Education from the University of Northern Iowa in 1986. He began his career as instructor and coach at Holy Family School in St. Petersburg and was also an assistant boys basketball and football coach at St. Petersburg Catholic High School before moving on to Boca Ciega.
