Harney, injured in fall, to coach during 2005, may petition for 2006 eligibility

Although Evan Harney will not play football in 2005, the Fallbrook High School graduate will provide some assistant coaching for the University of San Diego football team and he may receive a sixth year of eligibility to play football in 2006.

“Evan will tutor and help us coach and be a big part of our football team this year,” said USD head coach Jim Harbaugh, who appeared with Harney at the San Diego Hall of Champions for a Sports at Lunch session August 4. “There’s a fantastic story yet to be written.”

Harney was released from the hospital August 2 after a fall which resulted in a fractured skull and contusions. “I’m so blessed to be alive and not paralyzed and walking right now,” he said.

Harney’s fall came as he was standing on the side of a curb while holding a car door open for a friend. A makeshift nylon fence separated the curb from a ravine. “As I took a half a step back it gave way,” Harney said.

Harney tumbled 30 feet down the hill. “I was able to catch my footing as I was tumbling down,” he said.

He caught his footing on the retaining wall, which was three feet high on his side and ten feet high on the other side, and he fell onto the other side of the wall. “Dropped ten feet straight on my head on the concrete,” he said.

He spent three days in the hospital, but he suffered no permanent damage. “I look at how blessed I am to have walked away from that accident,” Harney said.

Since he was released before the August 9 start of USD’s football training, he asked about going to the pre-season camp. He was told that he could not engage in physical contact for six months.

“That was one of the most shattering things for me to hear,” Harney said. “I love playing football.”

The National Collegiate Athletic Association allows players four seasons of eligibility; however, eligibility is limited to a five-year period which begins when the student-athlete is first enrolled as a full-time college student. Harney spent two years at the University of California, Irvine, where he did not play football, before transferring to USD in 2003. Although the 2005 season would have been his final year of college eligibility had he played, a school can petition the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility, which is often granted in cases of an injury.

“We’ll make that appeal when the season’s over, but this guy has a tremendously bright future,” Harbaugh said.

While a student-athlete must be enrolled full-time in a university to be eligible for participation, he or she is not required to be an undergraduate student. Harney, who is a business major with a 3.9 grade point average, is 12 units short of obtaining his degree and is expected to graduate from USD at the end of the fall semester. USD offers a Masters of Business Administration program, so Harney could play on the 2006 squad while pursuing his MBA degree.

Harney’s first season with USD gave him NCAA Division I-AA Mid-Major All-American honors for 2003. His 285 carries, 1,475 rushing yards, 1,734 all-purpose yards, 20 touchdowns, 17 rushing touchdowns and 122 points set USD single-season records and his 43 carries against Holy Cross set a school single-game record. He led all Division I-AA rushers in scoring with an average of 12.2 points per game, his 147.3 rushing yards per game placed second in Division I-AA and he was fourth in all-purpose yardage at 173.4 yards per game.

Harney began setting USD career records in 2004, establishing new standards for rushing attempts, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns and points. He also became the first USD player to rush for at least 1,000 yards in two different seasons, and the season concluded with Harney rushing for 1,334 yards. Harney also broke his own single-season record with 18 rushing touchdowns.

Harney’s contributions consisted of more than one play, but Harbaugh illustrates one example of Harney’s prowess. USD trailed Dayton, who has become USD’s arch-rival due to the two teams’ frequent challenges for the Pioneer Football League northern conference title, by four points with less than a minute to play. Near the end of the 70-yard drive, the Toreros had the ball on Dayton’s one-yard-line on fourth down.

“We did our best play, which is the blast play,” Harbaugh said.

The ball was given to Harney. “He goes up and over the top and gets stuffed by two linebackers in the hole. Somehow he was able to get his foot on the ground and weave his way in,” Harbaugh said.

“This guy right here is just special,” Harbaugh said of Harney. “He’s made his mark here.”

USD will have to play its 2005 schedule without Harney. “He will be missed. It is a blow to our team not to have Evan Harney this year,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh has noticed not only Harney’s talent but also his attitude. “I would put Evan in the top five of men that I have known,” Harbaugh said of Harney’s trust, integrity and character.

That attitude will enable Harney to tutor and coach in more ways than one. “This is a strong, strong young man. The way he trained this summer probably saved his life,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh realizes that Harney’s eagerness to play compounds the trauma of Harney’s fall. “What he went through this past weekend was pretty tough on him, pretty devastating,” Harbaugh said. “Staying on the sidelines is going to be a hard thing.”

Ironically, Harney was not expected to be USD’s starting running back in 2003, but an injury to the expected starter thrust him into the first-string role. “There’s a person who’s going to take Evan Harney’s place, and he has a chance to make a name for himself,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh notes that the team’s receivers will also have to pick up for the loss of Harney as well as for the loss of seniors from the 2004 squad. “Every single position player on the team, every single coach, has got to elevate their game,” Harbaugh said. “That will be our challenge.”

Some of those players will be Harney’s former Fallbrook High School teammates. Harbaugh expects Phil Bretsch, Kyson Hawkins and Adam Burke to be starters in 2005.

USD’s first three games are at home against Azusa Pacific, Southern Oregon and Yale. The Toreros then play Princeton and Menlo on the road before returning home for their PFL opener against Butler. USD also has home games against Drake, Chapman and Marist and conference road matches at Dayton and Valparaiso.

Although Harney has no formal coaching experience, he is known for returning to youth leagues, camps and high school programs in Fallbrook to mentor the younger players. He feels that that experience will be beneficial as he coaches in 2005. “I think it will help me out in whatever I chose to do this year,” he said.

“We’re going to have a great season this year,” Harney said. “I am so looking forward to it. I’m going to be there and hopefully learn how to coach a little bit. I couldn’t learn from a better coach.”