When current Texas women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer was considering taking the head coaching job at Mississippi State in 2012, he had one condition for then-Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin.

“I’ll come, but Johnnie Harris has gotta come,” Schaefer told Stricklin. “And if she’s not coming, I’m not either.”

Evidently, the message was heard, and Harris quickly joined Schaefer in Starkville as the Bulldogs’ associate head coach — a move that meant the tandem’s longtime coaching relationship could continue.

On Thursday morning, Schaefer, whose Texas Longhorns earned a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, was asked about Harris leading Auburn to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. For Harris, in her third year as Auburn’s head coach, she’s led the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament bid.

Schaefer’s eyes immediately welled.

“I couldn’t be more proud for Johnnie,” Schaefer choked out. “She was with me a long time and we spent lots of great times together. This doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Schaefer and Harris first found themselves on the same coaching staff in 2007 as Harris joined Gary Blair’s staff at Texas A&M, where Schaefer had been an assistant since 2003. Together, the two stuck around College Station, Texas and helped the Aggies throughout a tear of dominance, which featured an NCAA Championship in 2011.

The following year, Schaefer and Harris made the move to Mississippi State — Schaefer as head coach and Harris as his right-hand woman with an “associate head coach” tag.

“I don’t need ‘yes’ people. And she wasn’t a ‘yes’ person. She’d always keep it real with me and tell me what I needed to hear and sometimes maybe not what I wanted to hear,” Schaefer said Thursday when asked about he and Harris’ relationship. “So again, I just think, you’re talking about an individual that I have the highest and the most utmost respect for and an admiration.”

Together, Schaefer and Harris helped Mississippi State orchestrate five NCAA Tournament appearances, four trips to the Sweet 16, three Elite Eight finishes, two Final Four berths and back-to-back trips to the national championship, where the Bulldogs narrowly fell both times.

“She was a big part of our success there,” Schaefer said of Harris.

In 2020, Schaefer left Mississippi State to fill the head coaching vacancy at the University of Texas, returning to his hometown of Austin.

And, of course, Harris came too.

Harris spent two seasons as the associate head coach at Texas. But then Auburn came knocking, hoping that Schaefer’s longtime lieutenant might fill the head coaching vacancy on The Plains.

On April 3, 2021, Harris was announced as Auburn’s next head coach and was formally introduced two days later.

In her introductory press conference, Harris was quick to thank Schaefer.

“Vic Schaefer is more like a brother to me. We’ve been together for, just finished 14 years. And he has molded me into the person that I am. I’ve learned a lot from him,” Harris said. “And he just put me out there, and he taught me and guided me and led me, and I’m just so thankful to have someone like him in my corner. The last thing he said to me is, ‘whatever you need, whenever you need it. I’ll be there.’ And I really do believe that.”

On Thursday morning, Schaefer echoed Harris in saying he looks at her like a sister.

“She is special to me,” Schaefer said. “She’s a great mom, she’s a great grandma — she probably don’t want me to bring that up — but she is a great grandmother as well. Her communication skills, her ability to communicate in recruiting, with our players. She’s a great Christian woman. We’re just, really, two people who are so much (alike). I would hope that I’m a lot like her.”

Come Thursday night, Schaefer and Harris will add one more thing to their list of commonalities.

When Harris and the Auburn Tigers take the floor against the Arizona Wildcats a 6:10 Thursday night in the play-in round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, they’ll both be able to say they’ve led a team to March Madness as a head coach.

And Schaefer knew the day would come.

“So happy for her, proud of her and it does not surprise me at all,” Schaefer said.