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Thursday, July 2, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Director of counseling Harden retires after 34 years
After 34 years at Michigan,
Greg
Harden,
who
served
as
both
executive
associate
athletic director and director of
counseling has retired, Angelique
Chengelis from the Detroit News
reported Monday. Harden joined
Michigan after being hired by Bo
Schembechler 1986 and grew the
prevalence of the mental well-
being
of
athletes
throughout
his years at the University and
established
the
importance
of
mental
health
to
athletic
achievement.
“So from the moment that our
student athletes step on campus
every year they participate in a
multitude of different trainings,”
assistant
director
of
athletic
counseling Abigail Eiler said in an
interview with The Daily in April.
“One is the high impact training,
another is a welcome home event
where a counseling team does a lot
of psycho-education about taking
care of themselves and utilizing
that wholistic perspective — it’s
not just your physical health, it’s
your mental health, emotional
health and beyond.”
Throughout his time in Ann
Arbor, Harden has worked with
athletes like Tom Brady, Desmond
Howard, Jalen Rose and Michael
Phelps to help them through rough
periods of their lives, but has also
worked with less high-profile
athletes. His department doesn’t
just show up to football practices,
but they have counselors attend
track meets, hockey games and
other smaller sporting events.
“We will be working with teams
on high performance,” Eiler said,
“all the way up to working with
students individually that are
experiencing severe and persistent
mental illness and so because
there’s that spectrum there are so
many different entry points.”
Desmond Howard said in a 2014
60 Minutes interview without
Harden, he wouldn’t have won the
Heisman Trophy during the 1991
season. Tom Brady, in an interview
with the Detroit News, said
Harden set him on a path to “Stop
complaining and start doing.” His
story is one that can be told by the
hundreds of athletes he meets with
a year, who claim he is the “unsung
hero” of Michigan athletics.
Harden’s
philosophy
he
bestowed on the athletes was
to “control the controllables.” A
simple mantra, it transcends sport
into life, powerfully resonating
with athletes who are struggling
with something outside a field,
court or rink.
While
Harden
is
officially
retiring this summer, it isn’t the
first time he’s thought about it —
Harden considered retirement in
2016, but with the hiring of new
Athletic Director Warde Manuel,
he stayed on for a couple more years
to smooth out the transition. Now,
he leaves behind a department that
is larger and more vital to success
than ever before.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Summer Managing Sports Editor
MAX KUANG/Daily
Director of counseling Greg Harden helped athletes with mental health issues across his 34 years with the Wolverines.
Michigan releases athletic budget, projects $26.1 million deficit
The University of Michigan
Athletic
Department
released
its budget projections Monday,
predicting a deficit for the next
fiscal year.
For the current fiscal year,
the department expects a one
million dollar surplus as a result
of reduced team activities and
operations expenses following
the COVID-19 pandemic. The
official
department
revenue
comes out to $187.4 million while
accruing $186.4 million in costs.
During
the
2020-21
fiscal
year, beginning on July 1, the
athletic department expects its
revenue to drop to just $135.8
million
while
its
expenses
decrease to $161.9 million, which
would lead to a deficit of $26.1
million. The revenue decrease
is based mainly on a 50 percent
decrease in spectator admissions
revenue, while the expenses are
dropping due to a mixture of
decreased expenditures in all
areas, including team and game
expenditures, and a salary cut
for senior level employees —
including 10 percent reductions
from athletic director Warde
Manuel,
football
coach
Jim
Harbaugh and men’s basketball
coach Juwan Howard.
“Full-time
staff
members
earning
between
$50,000-
$100,000
will
have
salaries
reduced
by
5
percent,
and
employees
earning
between
$100,001-$150,000
will
have
wages reduced by 7.5 percent
during the same period,” the
University said in a statement.
“Staff earning less than $50,000
will not see any reduction in pay.”
One
expense
that
is
not
projected to have cuts is student-
athlete financial aid:
“That category will see an
increase of $0.8 million,” the
release
said.
“Primarily
due
an increase in the number of
student-athletes
remaining
on scholarship following the
cancellation of the 2020 spring
athletic season and anticipated
increases in tuition.”
Perhaps the most lofty goal is
a decrease in admissions revenue
by just 50 percent, in a time when
the United States is experiencing
a second wave of COVID-19.
Most of that revenue comes from
football game days, and until
Michigan and the Big Ten create
a policy on how many spectators
are allowed within stadiums, that
number will remain an optimistic
projection.
Michigan, with one of the
largest
athletic
departments,
is better-suited to withstand
the detriments of the current
crisis than smaller programs.
Still, the downriver effects may
be significant, especially with
the
uncertainty
surrounding
whether there will be fans in the
stadium — or sports at all.
KENT SCHWARTZ &
NICK STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editors
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Athletic Director Warde Manuel is predicting a $26.1 million deficit for the athletic department’s budget in 2020-21.