AUBURN, Ala. – Ken Harnden did not choose a career in coaching.
"I feel like it chose me," said Harnden, Auburn track and field assistant head coach.
After winning the NCAA 400m hurdles title at North Carolina in 1995 and helping the Tar Heels claim the NCAA indoor 400-meter relay national championship that year, Harnden represented Zimbabwe in the 1996 Olympics.
When Harnden moved to Tallahassee, Florida, to train, Florida State coach Terry Long invited him on the condition that Harden serve as a volunteer sprints coach.
"If you want to train here, this is what you have to do," Harnden said, recalling Long's ultimatum. "'You need to write workouts.'"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harnden replied. "It just built from there. It really chose me. I have no certifications in coaching. I literally learned on the job."
Each Monday morning, Harnden presented his workout plan to Long.
"I felt like I was going to see my English professor," Harnden said. "He'd draw red circles around the stuff he didn't like and put a checkmark next to the stuff he did. I learned by doing for two years."
'It chose me': Of his coaching career, Ken Harnden says he 'learned by doing'
Four months before the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia, Harnden tore his Achilles on the seventh hurdle in Osaka, Japan, effectively ending his hurdles career.
"When I landed, the next thing I remember is laying on the track and watching everybody finish," he said. "It was brutal."
One door abruptly closed, another slowly opened. The athlete was now a coach.
"For a walk-on in college, I had a pretty good career," said Harnden, who coaches Auburn's men's sprints and hurdles. "Worked really hard. I'd like to think I did everything I could to be successful, and the level I got to was where I was meant to be."
At FSU, Harnden shared an office with jumps coach Dennis Nobles, who coached there for nearly four decades.
"Easily the smartest man I've ever been around," Harnden said. "I soaked up every bit of knowledge I could."
Between his mentors and his former coaches, when Harnden encounters issues, he knows who to contact.
"When you find a roadblock, you call them up," he said. "If you're willing to check your ego, you ask the question."
In previous stops at FSU, Georgia and Tennessee, Harnden coached 25 NCAA champions, feeling that familiar adrenaline rush each time his athletes are first to the finish line.
"It's the closest thing I can get to still competing," he said. "It's fantastic."
A three-time national assistant coach of the year, Harnden prioritizes his student-athletes' academic success even more than their sprint times.
"I've graduated every athlete I've brought in over a 20-year span," he said. "For me, that's the most important thing."
'A huge, rewarding responsibility'
A native of Zimbabwe, where his mother taught Auburn swimming legend and seven-time Olympic medalist Kirsty Coventry in third grade, Harnden enjoys seeing athletes from all over the world train and compete together, learning to appreciate each other's cultures.
Three years ago, at the wedding of one of his former student-athletes, 27 others attended.
"They represented nine countries," he said. "It was fantastic. To be part of that is amazing. To be that bridge between a student-athlete's parents and adult life is a huge responsibility but it's rewarding and a lot of fun."
When recruiting prospective student-athletes, Harnden points out the commonalities at Power Five schools: tracks, weight rooms, nutrition and sports medicine resources. What's to separate one from another?
"It's about the people," he said. "And having that comfort level with the people who are going to be responsible for you.
"You can't choose your family until you pick a college. Then you're choosing your family. You're picking the right people to be around. This staff is easy to pitch."
'This staff is easy to pitch': Ken Harnden joined head coach Leroy Burrell's inaugural Auburn staff
Joining head coach Leroy Burrell's first Auburn staff, Harnden looks for Tigers who will fit in with Auburn's culture of hard work.
"I always tell the team, 'Our vibe attracts our tribe,'" he said. "We believe in a teaching component. With this staff, there's a view to a long-term career. If you want to be a professional athlete, I'm going to train you, coach you and race you like a professional athlete.
"If you come to Auburn, this is a staff that will take you to the highest level of track and field that you're willing to sacrifice to get to. Our goal is to maximize all levels. Come here and be part of that."
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer