Newsstand: Longtime Michigan administrator Greg Harden passes away
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Longtime Michigan administrator, a mental coach for student-athletes, passed away Friday after complications from a Monday surgery.
From a Michigan press release:
Long-time University of Michigan Administrator Greg Harden, best known as the mental coach for thousands of student-athletes who competed for the university and countless others around the world, has passed away after complications from surgery. During his time at Michigan, Harden became known in many circles as the school’s “Secret Weapon” for his work behind the scenes helping Wolverine athletes achieve peak performance.
Harden has spent the better part of five-plus decades as a life coach, motivational speaker, executive consultant, and social worker. Harden had retired from full-time service as Associate Athletic Director and Director of Athletic Counseling for Michigan Athletics (1986-2020) but continued to work with athletes and teams at Michigan to this day. Harden also spent the past three seasons working with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization as their peak performance coach.
Greg described his work in the following manner: “My real obsession is to convince an individual that they must determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves.”
He worked with thousands of Michigan student-athletes during his career, including Desmond Howard, J.J. McCarthy, Tom Brady, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Olympians Emily Brunemann and Jeff Porter, as well as Michael Phelps. Harden specialized as a mental coach for athletes, coaches, university personnel, executives, and others on the world’s biggest stages. That he maintained close personal relationships with so many, even decades after their competitive or working days had ended, reflects the enormous impact of his work on their performance and lives.
At Michigan, Harden was instrumental in the design and implementation of student-athlete and staff development strategies. His collaborative style and efforts helped to strengthen the athletic department’s connection with the larger university community.
Yesterday was the 15-year anniversary of Michigan’s 38-34 win over Notre Dame in 2009.
According to The Action Network, Michigan has 40 former players on active NFL rosters, the fifth most among any college program.
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Quote Of The Day
“To me personally, he was more than a friend. Greg was a mentor, confidant and a big brother who would tell us what we needed to hear and guided us through any situation, big or small. He was an incredible human in every way and pushed us all to be great mentally.”
— Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore on the passing of Greg Harden
Headlines Of The Day
• Chris Balas and Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: INSIDE THE FORT: Michigan football – this week with O-line, quarterbacks … hoops notes and more
• Anthony Broome, The Wolverine: Jim Harbaugh, J.J. McCarthy, Tom Brady and more pay tribute after passing of Greg Harden
• Clayton Sayfie, The Wolverine: Three things we think: Michigan’s championship hopes, what progress would look like and the ‘panic button’
• Anthony Broome, The Wolverine: Tale of the tape: Sizing up Michigan vs. Arkansas State – A test of discipline and identity
