P’hariz Watkins - Graduate Assistant - Women's Basketball Support Staff

P’hariz Watkins

Title:
Graduate Assistant
Year At Tennessee:
2nd (1st With Lady Vols)
Alma Mater (Year):
Heidelberg (2021)
Email:
pwatki10@utk.edu

(First name is pronounced PARE-iss)

P’hariz L. Watkins served as a graduate assistant with the Lady Vol Basketball program in 2023-24 after spending the previous academic year working with Tennessee Athletics as a member of the 2022-23 FellowVOLS cohort.

His responsibilities with UT women’s hoops include player development on and off the court, managing male practice players, supporting recruiting efforts, scouting and game planning as well as basketball operations duties.

Watkins played basketball collegiately for four seasons, including three years as a letterman at Heidelberg College in Ohio and another at Adrian College in Michigan. He appeared in 86 total games during his collegiate career, logging 1,401 minutes, 573 points, 220 rebounds and 129 assists.

Off the court, Watkins served as the co-chairman for Adrian’s Graduate Studies Advisory Committee and gained leadership experience as the student chairman for Heidelberg's D.E.I. Committee and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Adding to his student-athlete responsibilities, he handled duties as the social media coordinator for his team.

Additionally, he also interned with Georgia State Athletics in ticket sales and social media as well as with USA Basketball, where he served in the youth event operations department and as a basketball operations assistant coordinator for the HBCU All-Star Weekend. He also was a basketball operations manager for the first-ever 2023 NCAA Women's College Basketball Academy.

A May 2021 graduate of Heidelberg, Watkins double majored in communications and sport management while minoring in media technology. He then earned a master's degree in sport management from Adrian in December 2022 before beginning work on another master's degree in (ALEC) agricultural leadership, education and communication at Tennessee.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Watkins graduated from Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School, where he was first-team all-league and all-district as well as an honorable mention all-state athlete in basketball. He is the son of Nicole Parker and Dion Watkins and brother of Londyn Parker.