As Tom Brady gets ready to play in his 10th Super Bowl, a remarkable feat for anyone who’s played in the NFL, Greg Harden still sits in the shadows in amazement.
But he’s not surprised.
Harden, an Ann Arbor native who retired from the University of Michigan last summer, has known the superstar quarterback since Brady’s sophomore year at Michigan.
It was 1997 when Harden, working as a counselor for the athletic department, found Brady on his appointment schedule. Harden had been attending Michigan football practices regularly at that time, and was often asked to give the team lectures of the ins and outs of life.
Nowadays, Harden is known for his inspirational messages and TED Talks that can be found on the Internet with a few clicks of a keyboard. In 2014, his work at Michigan was featured in a CBS “60 Minutes” segment.
But the day Brady arrived in his office, Harden realized that he was different.
Not athletically — that, he later told Brady, was not something he could help him with — but Brady came across as likable and willing to listen.
“The way he carried himself, the way he projected — he just seemed like he was more polished and more mature than the norm,” Harden said.
In fact, Harden could only compare his personal approach to that of Michigan wide receiver Desmond Howard, who had won the Hesiman Trophy as college football’s best player in 1991. Howard, too, met regularly with Harden during his time at Michigan.
“He was very curious,” Harden said of Brady in the late ’90s. “Of course, that was his opening gambit. But it was deeper than that. He just needed somebody to talk to.”
Former Michigan athletic director David Brandon, center, sits with assistant athletic director Greg Harden, right, at an NCAA college basketball game between Michigan and Penn State, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Truthfully, Brady was upset over his lack of playing time, he told SiriusXM Radio host Howard Stern in 2019.
Brady arrived at Michigan in 1996 to a packed (and talented) quarterback room, one that included two other future NFL players in Brian Griese and Scott Dreishbach. Dreishbach was the starter that year, while Griese won the job in 1997 en route to a 12-0 season that saw the Wolverines win the Big Ten Conference, their Rose Bowl game and lay claim to a share of the national championship.
For most of that time, Brady sat on the sidelines.
“I was looking up at all these guys on the depth chart who were ahead of me and I thought, ‘I’m never going to get a chance here,’” Brady told Stern. “So I remember talking to the people at Cal (University of California), because that was my second choice — to go to Berkeley. I was thinking maybe I should go there because I’d get more of an opportunity to play there.”
Brady said he told head coach Lloyd Carr how he was feeling, but he also told Harden. And while Harden admittedly couldn’t do much about helping him throw the football or read an opposing defense, he offered some personal advice that Brady later took to heart — and still credits Harden with today.
“You can worry about what everybody else is thinking or you can begin to control the controllables,” Harden said. “You can’t control what your coach thinks. All you can control is how you operate and how you see yourself, then everyone will see what you’re all about.
“Some folks, you have to ask them: ‘So, why don’t you leave?’”
Harden says the question often catches many off guard. But not Brady.
He was open and receptive to being told “you’re not good enough,” no matter how much it hurt to hear. A year later, Brady beat out highly-touted freshman Drew Henson for the starting job and went on to become a two-year starter, all-Big Ten honorable mention and captain in 1999.
And while his play in college was good, it was far from spectacular. Brady was drafted in the sixth round — “199th pick,” Harden points out — by the New England Patriots and thought of as a potential practice squad quarterback.
Did Harden predict Brady’s legendary NFL run as a 6-time Super Bowl MVP now considered one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play professional football?
“Hell no,” Harden says with a laugh. “I did not know. And anybody who said they knew is lying.”
Related: Super Bowl LV rosters: 17 players with state of Michigan ties
On Monday, 43-year-old Brady addressed the media virtually as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl LV (6:30 p.m., CBS), a game set to take place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. He could not see the faces of reporters asking questions, only their voice echoing from a screen in front of him.
Brady was asked about a wide range of topics. Everything from his opponent this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs, and their superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, to his decision to spend lavishly on watches for his offensive linemen. But a constant theme kept remerging in his answers. He credited those around him — his teammates, the Tampa Bay coaches, his family and support staff — for his success.
“I never would have thought, ‘Success is XX passing yards and touchdowns or Super Bowls,’” Brady said. “It was always about maximizing my potential and being the best that I could be. When I showed up as a freshman in high school and didn’t know how to put pads in my pants, I was just hoping to play high school football. Because I wanted to be like Joe Montana and Steve Young.
“When I got a chance in college, I just wanted to play at Michigan. Then when I got drafted to the Patriots, I just wanted to play; I just wanted to start. It’s been a series of steps like that, trying to be a little better every year, learn a little bit every year, try and grow and evolve in different areas.”
For Brady, that’s turned into a winning formula. And it all began with Harden, who Brady has called one of the most influential people in his life. The two still speak — and Harden serves as a life coach and consultant for other professional athletes and high-profile individuals. Yet Brady remains one of his best case studies. Because he sought the advice, listened and implemented what Harden told him.
“He’s the best in athletics because he’s more than an athlete,” Harden said. “He will never outrun you, (never) out-jump you — but he will kick your ass. He’s like Batman. Why do people love Batman? Because you will never be Superman and come from another planet.
“You’re not going to be bitten by a radioactive spider. But you have a chance to be the Batman. And that requires you to be mentally, physically and spiritually stronger than everybody else around you.”
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Ten Super Bowls later, a Michigan mentor still rubs off on Tom Brady - MLive.com
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