One of the most sought-after assistant coaches in the 2026 offseason was Michigan offensive line coach Jim Harding. Not only is Harding joining the Wolverines as the offensive line coach, but he will also serve as the assistant head coach under head coach Kyle Whittingham for the 2026 season.
Harding was so sought after because of the wealth of experience he boasts coaching the offensive line. Serving as a longtime assistant under Whittingham, Harding could have very well gone on to a higher position
elsewhere, but he elected to stay with Whittingham. This season, he will coach a Michigan offensive line that boasts continuity at multiple positions and high-level recruits looking to have a breakout season.
Here is a breakdown of Harding’s career heading into his first season with high expectations in Ann Arbor:
Resume
Harding was born and raised in Ohio and spent four seasons at Toledo as an offensive lineman. He made 46 consecutive starts and was a First-Team All-MAC selection in 2000. Harding also served as a captain that season and spent all four years under head coach Gary Pinkel.
After his four seasons in Toledo, Harding followed Pinkel to Missouri, where he was an offensive graduate assistant from 2002 to 2004. After having a winning season in three of four seasons at Toledo, including a top-25 finish in 2000, Harding and Pinkel had a winning record in just one of three seasons together.
After graduating from Missouri with a Master’s in career and technical education, Harding became a high school coach at Troy Athens High School in Michigan. He was the defensive coordinator for two seasons before becoming the head coach for the 2008 season.
Troy Athens was Harding’s final connection to the midwest until joining Michigan’s staff this season as he spent five seasons with Wyoming from 2009 to 2013, and 12 seasons at Utah from 2014 to 2025.
At Wyoming, Harding was the co-offensive line coach for four seasons before becoming the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 2013. Harding was brought in by then-head coach Dave Christensen in 2009, and left with him when he was fired in 2013. Wyoming appeared in two bowl games during that time and Christensen won Mountain West Coach of the Year in 2011 with the team’s best record in his tenure at 8-5.
Both Harding and Christensen went to Utah in 2014 to join Whittingham’s staff where Harding was the offensive line coach and Christensen was the offensive coordinator. Christensen left after that first season and Harding then took on a co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach role for two seasons before being promoted yet again as the assistant head coach and offensive line coach from 2017 to 2025.
Why Michigan hired him
Through all the moves of his career at the collegiate level, Harding has followed his head coach. Harding followed Pinkel from Toledo to Missouri. He followed Christensen from Wyoming to Utah. Now Harding will follow Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck from Utah to Michigan.
Harding has the resume to take on a similar or bigger role at another school, but elected to remain loyal to the coaches he worked with last season and with Whittingham since 2014. Harding is a known offensive line guru and developer at the position, and to take on a program that has had the nation’s best offensive line units in recent years, the move is highly beneficial for both Michigan and Harding.
Michigan can serve as a true testing ground for how good Harding is at developing talent to be cohesive and elite, while the Wolverines secure one of the best and longest-tenured offensive line coaches in all of college football.
Recruiting, development and coaching philosophy
The lone fact that propels Harding’s recruiting resume is that he brought in Utah’s first and only five-star recruit to date in Kelvin Obot for the Class of 2026. Although Harding will never get to coach Obot, he’s had his fair share of four-star recruits and lower go on to earn accolades and play in the NFL.
During his time at Wyoming, he developed multiple key players, including Nick Carlson. Carlson was a three-time All-MW selection, including a First-Team All-MW nod in 2012. Harding didn’t have any players develop to play in the NFL, making more of a mark at Utah.
At Utah, he recruited seven four-star recruits, a few of whom were JuCo products. Most notably, Harding coached 10 first-team all-conference selections between eight players, with six of those being drafted to the NFL and two in the first round.
Jordan Agasiva and Nick Ford were the only two offensive linemen not to be selected in the NFL Draft, but they had three combined First-Team All-Pac-12 nods, with Ford having two. Jeremiah Poutasi, Isaac Asiata, Sam Tevi, Garett Bolles, Jackson Barton, Sataoa Laumea, and Spencer Fano were all also in the all-conference category — although some didn’t receive first-team nods — and were selected in the NFL Draft.
Bolles was selected 20th overall in the first round, and Fano was selected ninth overall this past draft in 2025. Fano was also the lone All-American selection of the group and was a two-time selection in 2024 and 2025, and a unanimous selection in 2025.
Harding has had a mixture of centers, guards and tackles reach these high achievements and can develop players from across the nation. In his short career with Michigan, he claimed two additional four-star recruits, Lincoln Mageo and Jakari Lipsey, both in the Class of 2027.
Success checklist
In his first season with the Wolverines, Harding has multiple returning All-Big Ten players and potential breakout stars. Here’s his success checklist for the group:
- Achieve three All-Big Ten nods: Last season, center Jake Guarnera and tackle Andrew Sprague both earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention selections. This season, there are multiple candidates that could add to that list for 2026. The possible achievers could be Blake Frazier, Evan Link, Nathan Efobi and Andrew Babalola. Although Michigan has likely three starting spots up for grabs, any of those four offensive linemen could have a breakout season.
- Be a finalist for the Joe Moore Award: It would be a tall task for Harding to return Michigan’s o-line to the top of the nation in his first season, but due to the amount of continuity across the board, being a finalist for the award isn’t far-fetched. At their ceiling, Michigan could win the award. But for Harding to look back and see 2026 as a successful season, he should at least get Michigan in the finalist conversation again, or at a minimum match the semifinals finish from a season ago.
- Keep as many players healthy as possible: This benchmark doesn’t all fall on Harding, but keeping the squad healthy could go a long way to making this group successful. It took injuries last season for Michigan to recognize who its best players were, but it never found a rhythm because of the constant revolving door.
