Harley Cook will enter his first season as a Jacksonville State's women’s basketball assistant coach in the 2025-26 season after serving as the team’s director of basketball operations from 2023 through 2025.
Cook, a Boaz, Ala., native, began his tenure at Jacksonville State in August 2020 as a women’s basketball student manager. He was a manager in the 2021-22 season when Jax State went 24-8, won the ASUN West Division, were runners-up in the ASUN Championship Tournament, and made the WNIT. Following two seasons in that role, in which he helped film games, assisted in practices, and oversaw logistics, he took over as the program’s graduate assistant in August 2022. As a graduate assistant, Cook and the Gamecocks went 16-14 in the 2022-23 season.
Cook was the director of basketball operations as Jax State transitioned from the ASUN Conference into Conference USA ahead of the 2023-24 season. The Gamecocks tallied 12 wins in the inaugural CUSA season in 2023-24, including a huge 78-63 win against CUSA foe Liberty on Jan. 10, 2024, at home. In 2024-25 Cook and Jax State captured conference wins against Kennesaw State on Jan. 4, UTEP on Jan. 23, New Mexico State on Jan. 25, and Louisiana Tech on Feb. 15.
Cook was instrumental in the development of Clara Gonzalez Planella during the 2024-25 season who went on to be named the CUSA 6th Player of the Year. Planella averaged 8.0 points per game, 2.8 rebounds, and accumulated 26 total assists during the season. On Dec. 16, 2024, at Utah Valley, Planella scored 19 points on 46.2% shooting and 4-8 makes from three-point range. In that game, Planella also pulled down six rebounds, had a steal, and an assist.
He began his career in collegiate basketball at Shelton State Community College in 2018. Cook was a women’s basketball student manager for the Lady Buccaneers from August 2018-May 2020, assisting in the day-to-day operations of an Alabama Community College Conference power in Tuscaloosa.
Cook continued to build his experience by volunteering as a statistician at the NJCAA Women’s Basketball All-Star Game from 2021 to 2023 and assisting with operations for the ACCC Basketball Championships in 2020 and 2021.
He earned an Associate of Science from Shelton State in May 2020 before graduating with honors from Jacksonville State University in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management. He is set to complete his Master of Science in Sports Management at Jax State in August 2025. Cook resides in Jacksonville.
