Darien Harris on being MSU's Director of Player Engagement
Former Spartan linebacker, Darien Harris, helped captain and lead the 2015 team to a Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff appearance. He went from athlete to analyst while earning his master's degree at Michigan State before the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, he's the Director of Player Engagement for Michigan State. A very fitting role. It's a job that comes with many responsibilities but mainly focuses on player development.
"I would say that the best way to kind of describe the overall mandates of my job is to make sure that our student-athletes are maximizing their time on campus," says Harris on his all-around role with the team.
Harris explains this isn't something he had planned. It wasn't something he had stretched out "over months." But he knew he would reach out whenever someone was named the new head coach at Michigan State.
"I was going to reach out in some way, shape, form, or fashion to try to come back and be on the staff in some capacity," said Harris. "I reached out to the athletic department and said if there was a way to get me on staff, I was ready to go."
Harris felt it was time to find his way back to East Lansing, and with the help of new head coach Mel Tucker, he did just that.
"Got a call to go over to the football building, to the Skandalaris building to meet with Coach Tucker for about 30 minutes and kind of the rest is history. That was over Valentine's Day weekend, and by the next week I was hired on," Harris said.
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