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Asked to describe Jim Harding, you might start with "authoritative," or "commanding," or "imposing."
He is nearly the tallest, often the loudest and said to be one of the smartest men on the field, rising from Mountain West co-offensive line coach to Pac-12 co-offensive coordinator in three years.
His presence is such that players felt his recent promotion was "expected."
But J.J. Dielman and Isaac Asiata didn't start there.
They giggled.
Dielman clarified: "Brontosaurus?"
"Have you ever seen 'Jurassic World?'" asked Asiata, eyes twinkling. "All those dinosaurs that are dead? That's Coach Harding. Every time he walks by, we hum the 'Jurassic Park' theme song."
Dielman, to Asiata: "We should play it when he walks in and see what he does."
"He might start crying," Asiata grinned.
They kept laughing; the jabs kept coming.
Two of Harding's steadiest performers took aim at his appearance, sense of humor and alma mater, reveling in the special license you only get from talking about certain people.
From talking about family.
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Family is cliché.
There's not one college football program that doesn't claim to be its players' second family, and while it may be true that all teams are something like families, the proliferation of the word renders it powerless to differentiate.
That's too bad, because Harding is — especially — about family.
From Maumee, Ohio, a suburb 10 miles southwest of Toledo where the Maumee River narrows once more before emptying into Lake Erie, Harding so valued proximity to home that he passed on scholarship offers from Kentucky and Cincinnati to become a Rocket.
It was a coup for Toledo.
Then-head coach Gary Pinkel had once judged the 6-foot-6 local as "potentially pretty good" at football, until he saw his athleticism during a basketball game, "and I said, 'This guy's going to be a heck of a player.'"
As one of five scholarship offensive linemen who joined Harding in the 1996 signing class, Michael Schaefer still remembers that Harding wore a Maumee Panthers Basketball T-shirt to the first day of freshman practice.
He'd soon adopt all of them as unofficial Maumee residents.
On Sundays, his mom served them chili, and other times they'd swing by unannounced and Harding's dad would throw extra steaks on the grill.
They'd get ice cream at a local staple called Jacky's Depot.
If not home, it was home-like.
"It made sense to me to try to involve them and get them away from the dorms and the campus a little bit," Harding said.
He was methodical, even then, abiding by his many to-do lists. If FranklinCovey hadn't popularized the daily planner, Schaefer said, "I think Jim would have come up with that a few years later."
But when he wasn't working out or studying, he was a normal young adult, taking turns pouring salt or sugar in his teammates' unattended drinks, or defending his appreciation for Jewell — "She was popular back then!" he said.
And he was, as Pinkel thought he'd be, a heck of a player.
Harding started a school-record 46 games at Toledo (his parents only missed one, he thinks), and by the time the Rockets went 10-1 and finished No. 25 in the AP poll in 2000, he'd evolved into a vocal leader.
He had a way of confronting problems without being a jerk about it, Schaefer said.
That year, when a play blew up because sophomore tight end Greg Grothous failed to call out a blitz, "I remember my reaction to Greg probably wasn't a great reaction for a senior that had started a couple of years," Schaefer said.
"Jim was able to buffer things a little bit and encourage Greg, because that play was over. What we could do is learn from that and move forward."
Harding also knew the right words to say when Schaefer, a longtime roommate who summered with the Hardings, badly fractured his ankle.
As Schaefer spent nine months on crutches, Harding accompanied him to the grocery store, to push his cart.
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Harding went undrafted and signed a free agent deal with the Miami Dolphins in 2001, hanging on for about five months.
"I got to see firsthand that those guys that play at that level, they're there for a reason," he said, "whereas there might be some other people, teammates of mine, that didn't get to see that firsthand and feel as if they were slighted, or 'What if?'"
All false hope was erased during a joint practice with Tampa Bay. At guard, Harding had been pitted against future Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp in a one-on-one pass rush.
As he laid on his back in the aftermath, he said, "I knew my days were numbered,"
But soon after his return to northwest Ohio to work as a substitute teacher, he caught a break: Toledo's success had won Pinkel the top job at Missouri, and he'd brought with him Harding's old offensive line coach, Dave Christensen.
They had an opening for a graduate assistant.
As Harding had drawn his teammates into his Ohio family, the Christensens made room for Harding in Columbia. Harding also met his wife, Meredith, when he asked her to turn in an assignment for him in a sport psychology class they shared.
He spent three years learning the trade as the Tigers built toward what would be a seven-year bowl run, then left before it began to become defensive coordinator and math teacher at Athens High, near Meredith's family in Troy, Mich.
He was promoted to head coach in 2008, but Athens went 2-7, and his patience was tested.
"I wanted something more," Harding said. "These are high school kids, and their No. 1 thought isn't football, which is understandable at that level. And I had a lot of frustration with that."
Christensen threw Harding another lifeline on his way Wyoming.
Meredith gave her blessing, and Harding joined his mentor's staff as a Division I assistant.
He spent four years sharing offensive line oversight with Pete Kaligis in Laramie, until the Cowboys conceded just 12 sacks in 2012 and Harding's ascent gained speed: from Wyoming co-offensive-line coach to co-offensive coordinator, to Utah offensive line coach to co-offensive coordinator.
With Christensen at Texas A&M, he's standing on his own. Sort of.
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Harding is "a completely different person than he was when he first got here," Asiata said.
Many of Utah's offensive linemen are Polynesian, and Asiata thinks their culture was a big adjustment for Harding. Utah's linemen like to have fun at the office, he said.
"He was, you know, your typical O-line coach."
Added Dielman: "Pretty black and white."
Harding's sense of humor has since gone from "none whatsoever," Dielman said, to a work in progress: He's so deadpan that they're not sure when he's joking.
"And then he'll go, 'Alright, uh, I guess that wasn't very funny.'"
They appreciate the effort.
Harding told them from the outset that he didn't want them to become like him: He was going to become one of them. And he's held true to that, they said.
Players were "elated," Kyle Whittingham said, when Harding was announced as co-coordinator in February.
And even if all of his jokes don't necessarily land, he's proven to be an ace recruiter, credited by Rivals.com with eight of Utah's commits last season. The reports from preps are a broken record: Other schools tell them what they want to hear, but Harding connects with them by shooting straight.
He has more responsibilities now, as co-coordinator, but "he's kind of always been the same person" at home, Meredith said.
His sons Colton, 5, and Jackson, 3, play catch as they wait for him to walk off the practice field, and the sound of his car locking after a late night at work sends them scurrying to their front door, Meredith said. Wednesday night, they played basketball in their unfinished basement.
"To him, to play with the boys for an hour and a half, even though he may be tired, is more important than sitting on the couch."
He still talks to his folks almost daily, FaceTiming so they can see their grandkids. And though football and family consume him and Schaefer — an assistant at Ohio's Upper Arlington High with three kids — they chat when they're able.
Said Schaefer: "I still consider him somebody I could call at two in the morning and tell him that I needed something from him or that something was going on in my life, and he'd be there for me."
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The question was put to Asiata and Dielman: Is there anything else we should know about their coach?
"He's a giraffe, as well as a brontosaurus," Asiata laughed.
"He's a bubble hockey legend, Dielman said. "I would take that man in a bubble hockey game over any man on the planet. That's a fact. He's unreal."
Then, a pause.
They got serious.
"I've never had an O-line coach like him, probably not since my high school coach, that actually cared about his O-line like he does," Asiata said.
"That's no disrespect to the guys who've been here before, but he takes it to a whole new level."
Dielman nodded. A whole new level, he repeated.
"That's why it's awesome playing for him."
Twitter: @matthew_piper —
About Jim Harding
As a player • Started a school-record 46 straight games from 1997-2000 after redshirting in 1996, blocking for longtime NFL rusher Chester Taylor in 2000 while leading Toledo to a 10-1 record. Enshrined in Toledo's Hall of Fame in 2013. Signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent before getting cut in August of that year.
Before Utah • Was a graduate assistant at Missouri from 2002-04, defensive coordinator and head coach at Athens High in Troy, Mich., from 2005-08, and co-offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator at Wyoming from 2008-13.
At Utah • Jeremiah Poutasi was a third-round pick and is starter at right tackle for the Tennessee Titans after a year of Harding's guidance. Beyond that, there's been good and bad for Utah's offensive line. They paved the way for Devontae Booker's 1,512 yards last year, but they also finished tied for 85th in sacks allowed (2.4/game) and 121st in tackles for loss allowed (7.6/game). This year, while they've allowed just one sack through two games, Kyle Whittingham has said he'd like to see more push in the run game.
Whittingham, on Harding's promotion • "First of all, he's extremely intelligent. He's very even-keeled. As a coach, you want to be consistent. You want to expect the same things every day, demand the same things every day, develop great rapport with your players — particularly the offensive line coach, that's vital. And he's done all of the above." —
No. 21 Utah at Fresno State
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
TV: CBS Sports Network —
No. 21 Utah at Fresno State
P at Fresno, Calif.
Kickoff • Saturday, 8:30 p.m. MT
TV • CBS Sports Network
Radio • ESPN 700
Series history • Utah leads 6-4
Last meeting • Utah won 59-27 (Sept. 6, 2014)
About the Utes • Senior quarterback Travis Wilson sprained his shoulder against Utah State, and it's unknown whether he or fellow senior Kendal Thompson will start against the Bulldogs. … After leading the nation in sacks with 55 last season, the Utes have just one in two games. They had seven last year against Fresno State. … Utah's longest pass completion this season is 22 yards, and it will be a point of emphasis to better involve the outside receivers moving forward.
About the Bulldogs • Either true freshman Chason Virgil or sophomore Zack Greenlee will start at quarterback for Fresno State, but expect both to have a short leash. … Bulldogs were beaten by 52 points last week at No. 15 Ole Miss, but are just 14-point underdogs against the Utes. … Utah has never won (0-3) at Bulldog Stadium, with the last meeting coming in 1997. Fresno State is also 3-0 wearing black jerseys at home, as they intend to do Saturday night.