Grant Harvey Sr. isn’t your typical coach.
In fact, he doesn’t even consider himself the UNM ice hockey team’s head coach.
“Well, here is the thing, and let’s get this established,” he said. “I am not much of a coach.”
It was only by sheer requirement that Harvey became the Lobos’ coach. In order to compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, UNM — which is not a part of the Athletics Department and doesn’t play in the Mountain West Conference — needed a head coach. Harvey has two sons on the team, Miles and Grant Harvey Jr. So, it was a given that he would attend all of their home games, anyway.
One of the team members asked Harvey Sr. if he wanted to coach the team. Harvey Sr. responded with an easy “sure.”
“What we had to do to be legal with the ACHA, we had to have a coach,” Harvey Sr. said. “ (So) they made the decision last year. What (was the team) going to do about a coach? The guys are pretty self-disciplined, and they are pretty sound.”
The older Harvey’s decision motivated his son.
Although Harvey Jr. already earned an undergraduate degree, he now pays to go to graduate school and plays hockey for the Lobos.
Not only for himself, but also for his father.
“My dad was sick, and I didn’t know how many more years he was going to have with us,” Harvey Jr. said. “My dad has always loved hockey, and I thought the best gift I could give my dad back is playing hockey.”
With Harvey Sr. guiding them, the Lobos went 18-2 last year, and their schedule mirrored almost identically the UNM basektball team’s schedule.
So the team decided to treat their beloved coach with a gift: an authentic red blazer matching the one that UNM head football coach Mike Locksley wore at his introductory news conference in December 2008 and the one like UNM head men’s basketball coach Steve Alford dons courtside during Lobo home games.
“We all threw the idea around in the locker room,” Harvey Jr. said. “If (Alford) has one, why can’t dad have one?”
So the team all put some money together and purchased Harvey Sr. a red blazer.
“My job is really to have my pretty red jacket on,” Harvey Sr. said.
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