Eric Harris, a familiar face around Richmond for decades, is the new head football coach at Thomas Jefferson High.

But he is certainly not new to the sport.

“This is my 24th year of coaching; it’s not like I’m some green guy walking through the door,” said Coach Harris, who succeeds the highly successful Josef Harrison as Vikings sideline supervisor.

Harrison, who stepped down for personal reasons, was 15-7 in his two seasons at the West End school with two trips to the postseason. Coach Harris was his offensive coordinator in 2022.

Before then, Coach Harris served nine years as an assistant coach at Douglas Freeman High and he was a TJ assistant under Chad Hornik.

“I knew all along I’d come back,” said Coach Harris.

A native of Detroit, Coach Harris came to Richmond in the mid-1990s on a Virginia Union University basketball scholarship under Dave Robbins. His VUU teammates included Ben Wallace and current VUU hoops Coach Jay Butler.

During his junior and senior seasons at VUU, he also played football under Willard Bailey.

Starting with Hornik in 2014, TJ has become the city’s source of pride in the autumn. After losing 47 straight games at one stretch, the Vikings have turned into a perennial playoff team in Class 2.

TJ advanced to the state semifinals in 2019 (under Coach P.J. Adams) and might have won the state crown in 2020, if not for a lost season due to COVID.

“They had everyone coming back in ’20,” said Coach Harris.

TJ started last season 7-0 before finishing 8-4. The Vikings might have fared better if not for a late-season injury to Aziah Johnson.

The multipurpose Johnson is now a freshman at Michigan State.

Another key loss is quarterback Quinton Wallace, now a freshman at Ferrum College. Wallace’s replacement is junior Rashaud Cherry, a promising athlete with loads of upside.

Other players to watch are receiver Carmelo McCloud and powerhouse nose guard Cedric Pearce.

“We have seven starters coming back on each side of the ball,” Coach Harris said. “And the kids replacing our lost seniors all got some time last season.”

Coach Harris will be busy as both a coach and father during the upcoming season.

His son Latrell Sutton, who had a distinguished career at Highland Springs High, is a sophomore receiver at Virginia Tech. His other son, Emmanuel Harris, is a defensive back at Ferrum after playing for Douglas Freeman.

“I’d have probably come back to TJ earlier, but I wanted to coach Emmanuel at Freeman,” he said.

The Vikings season opener will be one to watch 7 p.m. Aug. 25 at Huguenot. Like TJ, the Falcons have a new coach in Charles Scott.

TJ will play two “home” games at Virginia Union’s Hovey Field – Sept. 29 against John Marshall and Oct. 27 against Armstrong. TJ does not have lights for evening games on campus.

“Alumni have their privileges,” said Harris, noting that both he and former TJ Coach Harrison are VUU grads.

Until the 1980s, Hovey Field served as home turf for Maggie L. Walker High.

There also will be a change in administration this year at TJ. Shea Collins, a former athletic director at Huguenot and Midlothian, is now with the Vikings.

Collins replaces the retiring Dr. William Holt, who also played a pivotal role in TJ’s gridiron recovery.