The defending NBA Development League Champion Albuquerque Thunderbirds announced that Albuquerque native Joe Harge has been named as assistant coach. Harge replaces Larry Smith, who accepted the head coaching position with the Anaheim Arsenal (Calif.) on July 17.

Harge is a 1989 graduate of Oregon State University, where he played for four years. During his time at OSU, the Beavers received invitations to the NCAA tournament twice and twice for the NIT. At St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque, Harge was named to the McDonald’s, Converse and USA Today All-America teams.

After completing his college eligibility, Harge spent nine years playing professionally in Europe for teams in France, Greece, Finland, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Iceland. He was named the Arkansas RimRockers first head coach and led them to a 32-5 season in 2004-05, which included an ABA Championship. Harge was 46-21 overall with the RimRockers.

He spent four seasons at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock as an assistant coach prior to accepting the position with the RimRockers. Before coaching at UALR, Harge spent one season as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho.

"Coach Harge will definitely make an impact for the Thunderbirds. He is a great coach and really knows the players in this league,” T-Birds head coach Michael Cooper said. “Any time you can add a person with head coaching success, you have to consider that a victory."