Jim Harding
	Position: Assistant Coach - Offensive Line Experience: Third Season at UW Alma Mater: Toledo `01

Email: jhardin4@uwyo.edu

Jim Harding will team with Pete Kaligis to coach the offensive line for the Cowboys for the third straight year in 2011. Harding joined the University of Wyoming coaching staff in December 2008. His first season at UW, he helped coach former Cowboy offensive tackle Ryan Otterson, who signed a free-agent contract with the San Diego Chargers following the 2010 NFL Draft. In the 2010 season, Harding helped coach sophomore Nick Carlson, who earned Honorable Mention All-Mountain West honors at center. Carlson was named to the Rimington Trophy Preseason Watch List in the summer of 2011. The Rimington Trophy honors the nation's top center each season.

The 2011 season will be Harding's sixth as a college coach. Two of his first six seasons as a college assistant coach, Harding was part of programs that reached postseason play. Missouri participated in the 2003 Independence Bowl, losing to Arkansas, 27-14, and Wyoming captured the 2009 New Mexico Bowl Championship over Fresno State, 35-28 in double overtime.

When he was hired by Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen, Harding renewed a relationship he began with Christensen at the University of Toledo back in the late 1990s. Harding was an offensive tackle at Toledo from 1997-2000, while Christensen was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Rockets.

Harding enjoyed an outstanding college career for Toledo. He was a four-year starter, setting a school record with 46 consecutive starts. He was a First Team All-Conference selection as a senior in 2000 and was also elected a team captain that year. As a senior, he helped lead Toledo to a 10-1 record and a No. 25 ranking in the final Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls. One of Toledo's 10 wins during the 2000 season with a season-opening road win at Penn State by a score of 24-6. The 2000 Toledo offense also set a school record for scoring offense, averaging 36.4 points per game.

At the conclusion of his senior season, Harding was named the co-recipient of the Jim Nicholson Award, which is presented each year to the Toledo player who contributes most toward the success of the team. The award is named for Toledo's first full-time football coach, Jim Nicholson, who coached the Rockets from 1930-35. Harding shared the 2000 award with teammate DeJuan Goulde, a senior defensive end.

Toledo won or shared three Mid-American Conference (MAC) divisional titles in the four seasons Harding played. The Rockets won the 1997 and 1998 MAC West Division and were co-champions of the MAC West in 2000. Over that four-year span, Toledo posted a record of 32-14 (.696), including single-season marks of 9-3 in 1997, 7-5 in 1998, 6-5 in 1999 and 10-1 in 2000. The Rockets' four-year conference record during that time was 24-7 (.774).

Following his college playing career, Harding signed a free-agent contract with the Miami Dolphins and went to camp with the Dolphins.

A year later, Harding began his coaching career as an offensive graduate assistant at the University of Missouri, where Christensen was then the offensive coordinator. Harding served in that role for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons.

From the fall of 2005 through the fall of 2008, he was a high school football coach for the Troy School District in Troy, Mich. He served as defensive coordinator for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 seasons, and was the head coach in 2008.

Harding completed his bachelor's degree in secondary education from Toledo in May 2001, and achieved a master's degree in career and technical education from Missouri in December 2004.

A native of Maumee, Ohio, Harding and his wife, Meredith, now make Laramie their home. Their first child, son Colton James Harding, was born on Aug. 3, 2010.

Harding will recruit the Midwest, including the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. He will also recruit Northern Wyoming.