Robin Harmony, who led Lamar to three Southland Conference women’s basketball regular-season championships in six seasons as head coach, has taken the same position at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

Both Charleston and Lamar announced the transaction Friday. Harmony did not comment in either release and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I would like to thank Robin for everything she has done for Lamar University,” Lamar athletic director Marco Born said in a release. “She has elevated our women’s program to new heights during her time here. We wish her all the best as she moves forward in her career. We have already begun the process of searching for our next head coach and will have no further comment on the process until a hire is made.”

Harmony replaces Candice M. Jackson, whose contract was not renewed after five years at the helm. Charleston, which competes in the Colonial Athletic Association, went 39-113 under Jackson.

“We are excited to have Robin join our CofC Athletics Family,” Charleston AD Matt Roberts said. “She is a defensive-minded coach that has built championship programs throughout her coaching career. We look forward to having her build our women’s basketball program into a championship contender in the Colonial Athletic Association.”

Harmony took over an already winning program at Lamar from Larry Tidwell before the 2013-14 season and helped the Cards win a share of the Southland that season and earn one of three berths in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, guaranteed to every regular-season conference champion team that does not receive an NCAA tournament berth. Lamar, however, went 0-4 in tournaments after the Southland tournament, including a Women’s Basketball Invitational appearance in 2017.

The Cards won 20 or more games in each of the past three seasons, including a 24-7 mark in 2018-19, the best under Harmony. The 2018 Southland coach of the year posted a 115-68 record at Lamar, including an 83-25 mark in the Southland and back-to-back 17-1 conference marks in the past two years.

The 2018-19 campaign will be much remembered for Chastadie Barrs becoming the all-time leading steals maker in Division I women’s basketball with 649. Barrs also is a four-time defensive player of the year in the Southland.

Also, fellow senior Moe Kinard scored an NCAA season-high 58 points against Denver and ranked 15th in points per game with 21.6.

Harmony’s Cardinals succeeded at “defending the nest” by posting a 42-game winning streak that began on Nov. 16, 2016, and ended with a 73-71 WNIT loss to South Alabama despite Kinard’s 36 points.

The Cards’ second-leading scorer, freshman Miya Crump (14.4 points per game), transferred after the season to the University of Houston in her hometown.

While Lamar has started a national search, the future for Harmony’s assistants at Lamar is not immediately clear.

Associate head coach Randy Schneider is a potential candidate to succeed Harmony, as he recruited two Southland freshmen of the year in Kiara Desamours (2016) and Jadyn Pimentel (2018); 2017 newcomer of the year Kinard and Barrs.

Cameron Miles became an assistant last April after two seasons as director of basketball operations. Former University of Texas standout Empress Davenport just finished her first year on staff, and Carlie Heineman is a graduate assistant.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews