Renowned UM sports advisor Greg Harden dies

Greg Harden, who served for decades as an administrator and mental coach for Michigan athletes such as Tom Brady, Michael Phelps and Desmond Howard and was long considered the program's “secret weapon,” has died.

Harden, who had worked with and counseled Michigan athletes since 1986, died of complications from surgery, the Michigan athletic department announced Friday. He retired in 2020 but remained available to student-athletes and celebrated the release of his book, “Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive,” last August.

During his career at Michigan, thousands of athletes sought his advice. After the Michigan athletic department asked on social media on Thursday to keep Harden in everyone's memory, several former Michigan players took to their platforms to ask for prayers. JJ McCarthy, the quarterback of Michigan's 2023 national championship team, shared a photo on Instagram of himself next to Harden and the request: “Please pray for my main man.”

“I cannot begin to describe the heartbreaking emotions I am experiencing right now,” McCarthy said in a statement he addressed to Harden as “OG” and released by Michigan on Friday. “The intensity of this pain is only so immense because of the impact you have had on my life. You gave me the courage and faith as we fought hand in hand against the demons I have battled my entire life.”

“You inspired me with your ability to love everyone and everything unconditionally. No matter how big or small, how significant or insignificant. You inspired me to seek the truth of who I really am, why I am the way I am, and to lift the veil of my limitless potential. You showed me what true freedom feels like when you helped me escape the cage in my head. But most importantly, you told me the things my ego didn't want to hear. You always guided me to the places inside me I didn't want to confront. Your timeless wisdom, ever-present sense of humor, and genuine authenticity have left lasting impressions in so many hearts that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives. Especially mine. I wouldn't be the person I am today without you, G. Thanks for everything. I love you, man.”

Harden advised superstars like Brady, Howard, McCarthy and Phelps, but was also there for all Michigan athletes, all of whom followed his mantra: “Control the controllable.”

More: Greg Harden has been the “miracle worker” of Michigan student athletes for 34 years

“I'm blessed beyond measure knowing that I impacted someone's happiness and changed the way they saw themselves,” Harden told The Detroit News in 2020. “When you're young and you hope to have a life of meaning and purpose, I had meaning and purpose.”

Howard, the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner and current college football commentator for ESPN's College GameDay, expressed his deep sadness in a statement released by Michigan on Friday.

“I cannot think of words right now that can adequately express the profound loss I feel,” Howard said. “I was just 18 years old when I met Greg Harden after arriving at the University of Michigan. Greg was everything you could want in a friend, mentor and confidant. His guidance helped change the course of my life, and our friendship lasted nearly four decades.”

“Over the years, he has positively impacted the lives of countless other student-athletes and their families. Greg brought wisdom, joy and his calming spirit to every encounter. We will all miss his presence. Although my family and I are heartbroken, we hold on to the lessons, guidance and memories that will forever be Greg's legacy. We are blessed beyond measure to have had him in our lives.”

Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, has stated repeatedly that he would not have stayed at Michigan if Harden had not stepped in and helped him overcome Brady's “I'm a victim” mentality.

“Greg came into my life at an incredible moment,” Brady said in a 2020 interview with The Detroit News. “Obviously, I had moved from California to Ann Arbor and decided to go to college at Michigan. There was a lot of tough competition and I really had to grow up. I think Greg recognized the state of mind where I was thinking, 'Is there an easier path for me?' Greg helped me realize that the best path for me was to learn how to tackle the obstacles I faced and do my best.

“He's very encouraging and inspiring and I think a lot of people who leave home for the first time want to be the best they can be. You have to understand what tools are needed to do that and if you haven't developed those tools, I think Greg was someone who could help you develop them. I had a work ethic and I had a desire. I needed a clear direction and I needed to learn to deal with things when they weren't going right, when they weren't going the way I wanted them to and not be a victim. Stop complaining and start taking action. Focus on what I could do and not what I thought was holding me back.”

More: Tom Brady says he learned to focus fully on the team at Michigan

Harden could empathize with Michigan athletes who were unsure how to navigate school, sports careers and life because he had experienced it himself. He was a track and field athlete at Southwestern High in Detroit and was named All-City and All-State, earned a track scholarship to Michigan in 1967 and hoped to play football as well.

In a 2013 interview with The Detroit News for the article “Michigan's Best Kept Secret” (January 13, 2013), Harden admitted that when he arrived in Ann Arbor, he was not well prepared to handle and understand the demands of college.

He didn't stay in Michigan long. He started a family and said he realized he was deeply angry with college and life and dropped out. Harden worked several jobs.

“I didn't think I would miss it at all,” Harden told The News in 2013 of his first experience at Michigan. “I was arrogant and ignorant and angry and frustrated and thought everyone was a racist. I wasn't impressed at all. When I got pregnant, I decided, 'They didn't like my attitude, I didn't like theirs. I'm going to go home and be a citizen of Detroit, get a job and start a family.'

“That didn't work out, and within a year I realized that I had changed just by being on campus. It had expanded my worldview. My worldview had changed and I hadn't realized it. Working in the steel mill wasn't stimulating the intellect that God had given me. So I went back to the crime scene. I went back to school.”

He graduated from Michigan in 1981 and a few years later made a name for himself as a consultant, helping people navigate the intricacies of everyday life and work. The late Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler learned about Harden and his counseling and met with him. Schembechler hired him at Michigan to work with athletes and their mental preparation. What set Harden apart was his ability to listen. He showed empathy but never coddled or sugarcoated while helping them get on the path to developing the mental tools and ability to understand themselves and become better athletes. Most importantly, Harden was committed to helping them become strong individuals.

“He's a miracle worker, I swear,” Michelle McMahon, a former Michigan volleyball player, told The News in 2020. “When he talks to someone, something goes through him.”

Brady often mentioned Harden in interviews when discussing his career and his outlook on life.

“It's not a measure of influence,” Brady told The News in 2020. “I know for a fact that he had a huge impact on me as an athlete and as a person. He was a great mentor during that very vulnerable time in my life where I was questioning a decision I had made: 'Was this the right place for me?' Greg said, 'It's right because you made it, and you're going to make the most of it, that's what you're going to do. And you're going to do everything you can, and you're going to be proud of what you do.' He looked at everything that came my way as an opportunity for me to grow. Regardless of whether I ever made it on the football field, he saw something in me that he wanted to work with, and I'm eternally grateful to him.”

Harden was always concerned with making athletes realize that they are more than the sport they play.

“We often think of college athletes as people who have it all,” Harden said in 2020. “They're in the prime of their lives, studying at the best universities in the country, playing the sport they love. And what they are again and again – and this disappoints a lot of people – is people, not robots and mutants. They're real, living, breathing people who are desperately trying to get their lives together.”

Harden leaves behind his wife Shelia, his children Brian, Victor and Olivia, and his sister Lynette.

According to a statement from the Michigan Athletics Association, the family has asked for privacy and a celebration of Harden's life will be held at a later date.

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