Hurricanes Football: Jack Harding MVP Award

Each season the players and coaches of the University of Miami football team select a most valuable player, to be awarded the Jack Harding MVP Award at the annual football banquet. Presented since 1964, this honor is the highest performance-based award a Hurricanes player can attain from his teammates.

The award is named for former UM head coach and athletic director Jack Harding, who coached the Hurricanes’ football team from 1937-42 and 1945-47. Harding relinquished his coaching duties after the 1947 season and took over as athletic director, a post he held until his death in 1963. As football coach, Harding oversaw the program’s rise into a major program. His 1938 team was his best, traveling to Gainesville and handing Florida an upset loss in the first meeting between the schools.

His teams posted major intersectional wins over Michigan State, Auburn, NC State, Clemson and Florida that put Miami football “on the map.” A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Harding was an accomplished athlete in his own right, lettering in football for legendary coaches Glenn “Pop” Warner and Jock Sutherland, in addition to earning varsity letters in baseball and basketball.