Sunday Chat is a weekly feature that appears on The Blade’s print and digital platforms each week.
Former Maumee High School and University of Toledo offensive lineman Jim Harding has risen to the highest levels of coaching in college football.
Harding wrapped up his 12th season as the offensive line coach at the University of Utah. Harding also has served as an assistant head coach under Kyle Whittingham since 2017.
Harding was inducted into the UT athletic hall of fame in 2013 and Maumee hall of fame in 2016.
At Maumee from 1992-96, Harding earned six varsity letters in football, basketball, track, and baseball. In basketball, he earned All-Northern Lakes League first-team honors as a senior when he helped lead the Panthers to a regular season record of 19-1 and an NLL championship. In two years, Harding was part of an overall record of 35-6.
In football, Harding anchored an offensive line on the 1994 football team that won the NLL and earned All-Ohio honorable mention.
Harding was then recruited to play for Gary Pinkel at UT and played for the Rockets from 1997-2001. The offensive tackle made 46 consecutive starts, earned first-team all-Mid-American Conference honors in 2000, and helped the Rockets to a 10-1 record and a No. 25 ranking in the final polls.
Harding was part of three MAC West Division Championship teams and blocked for UT’s all-time leading rusher Chester Taylor. As a senior, he was named the team’s most valuable player.
Harding earned a free agent NFL contract with the Miami Dolphins and played in two preseason games.
He then entered the coaching ranks first as a graduate assistant at Missouri from 2002-04. He then became head coach at Troy High School in Michigan.
Harding then spent five seasons at Wyoming as the offensive line coach from 2009-13. Harding then joined Whittingham's staff at Utah in the 2014 season as offensive line coach. He has been Utah’s assistant head coach since 2017 under Whittingham, who is tied as the second-longest tenured head coach at the same school in the FBS (21 seasons). Utah won back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022.
Harding has coached nine first-team All-Pac-12 or All-Big-12 selections and has had six offensive linemen selected in the NFL Draft.
Harding lives in Utah with his wife Meredith and sons Colton and Jackson.
The Blade: Is recruiting and retaining players now a 12-month job?
Harding: “Certainly recruiting is the No. 1 thing we do. It's the lifeblood of any program. There is no such thing as just being able to out-scheme people anymore. You have to have the players. We spend time each day recruiting, whether that's evaluating film, contacting kids, or just trying to develop relationships. So recruiting is a 365 job.”
The Blade: What are your thoughts on the drastically changing landscape in college football with NIL and the transfer portal?
Harding: “You have to be fluid. We have 15 scholarship o-linemen on the roster. With the transfer portal, you're certainly leery of losing guys in your room. It's a constant. It's the management of the guys in your room and hopefully, they see the value that you're providing. We've been fortunate. We had no linemen enter the last portal. It's certainly an added variable to college coaching that has changed in the last couple of years.”
The Blade: How do you approach the actual recruitment of high school prospects?
Harding: “On the offensive line, I have an old-fashioned approach. We've only taken one transfer o-lineman since the portal has been in play. When it comes to recruiting, I hammer home to parents and family that my job is to develop the offensive linemen. We only have one kid in the room that we brought in from the portal and we recruited him out of high school. In college coaching, you have to have guys who are competent with the Xs and Os, technique, and fundamentals. But you've got to have the ability to recruit and evaluate.”
The Blade: Are you living your dream job? Do you have aspirations of taking over a program?
The Blade: “I've been extremely lucky. My wife and I have two boys who are 14 and 12. We've only moved once. I just finished year 11 here at Utah. The boys never had to change schools. It's a demanding job. It takes up a lot of time. My wife Meredith, many times is like a single mom. Certainly, I love what I do. If there are opportunities that make sense for my family — whether that's being a head coach or going to the NFL — we'll explore them. But I know I'm in a great spot. Friends in the profession have moved their kids six or seven times. That has got to be a challenge. My wife is extremely supportive. Our head coach, Kyle Whittingham is awesome to work for. He does a good job of giving us some downtime. I love the rush of being involved in competing and being in the environments that I've been able to coach in. Sometimes it doesn't feel like work. I love what I do.”
The Blade: As a northwest Ohio native, what is it like living at the foot of the Rocky Mountains near Salt Lake City?
Harding: “My parents still live in the same house that I lived in since I was in second grade. My wife is from Michigan. It is like a different world out here. The scenery is just incredible with the mountains, the canyons, and ski resorts all over. We go out the backyard and we have a mountain view right there.”
The Blade: What was it like growing up in Maumee?
Harding: “I grew up playing baseball over at Ford Field. I played on the Twins and my coach was Ron Hoag. It's kind of a throwback community. Everything kind of revolved around baseball. In junior high, I picked up basketball and John Kolbow as my coach. I started playing football at Gateway and played for coach Hal LaFountaine in high school. My coach in basketball was Jim Robinson. He was an incredible teacher. Dave DuGai was my baseball coach. There's some great memories from playing for those coaches. In a lot of ways, they shaped who I am today.”
The Blade: How did you end up committing to UT?
Harding: “I had some opportunities with some other MAC schools, and Kentucky and Cincinnati. On my official visit to UT, they were practicing at the Rec Center — on the basketball floor because there was no indoor facility at that time. I remember just the feeling from Gary Pinkel and the environment that there was. I remember very vividly talking to my parents up on the balcony, looking down over practice, and saying, 'This is where I want to be.' There was just an energy there.”
The Blade: What stands out about your time at UT?
Harding: “I would have been termed a developmental guy. When I got to Toledo I was 250 pounds. And then after my redshirt year, I was 295. I needed that time to develop. I started my first game in my red-shirt freshman year. We played Purdue at home, and then I started all 46 games of my career. My last game at Toledo was the day before Thanksgiving against Bowling Green and I'll always remember the final score, we won 51-17. It was a great, great experience. I learned a lot both from Coach Pinkel and my offensive line coach Dave Christensen. I stay in touch with a handful of guys and it's great to reminisce. There's a picture of me in the UT Hall of Fame and my players found it online. They will insert that picture into our [film study] and they laugh at it. They think football that long ago was so different.”
The Blade: Do you encourage your recruits to play multiple sports?
Harding: “Absolutely. I love it when kids play basketball with that footwork and wrestling. The shot put is a good indicator for explosion for the offensive line. If all you do is football, you're perfecting that. But at the same time, if you've got a multi-sport kid, their ceiling is going to be higher because they've been dividing their time with other sports, so there's more room to grow.”
The Blade: How did you get into coaching?
Harding: “I had my teaching degree but I wasn't ready to get into teaching. I got a call from coach Christensen, my offense line coach and they had an opening for a GA at Missouri. I went to grad school there and got my master's. That's where I met my wife. Then we moved up to Michigan, which is where she's from, and I coached at Troy Athens. In December, 2009, we moved out to Laramie, Wyoming, which feels like it's on a different planet. Dave Christensen was the head coach. Then Coach C brought me over as the o-line coach here to Utah. It certainly feels like we're moving further and further from Maumee and my parents aren't really fired up about it. But I've had great opportunities and great places to live and I've met some really good people along the way.”
First Published February 9, 2025, 1:30 p.m.
