‘Everybody connects with her’: Milan Bolden-Morris’ impact on the Michigan program

MILAN BOLDEN-MORRIS wanted nothing more than to make the right first impression. Just a few weeks into her first fall camp as a graduate assistant for the Michigan football team, Bolden-Morris had to stand in front of a room full of over 100 men ranging from 18 to 60 years old, most of whom she’d never spoken to, and teach football.

A couple of months removed from wrapping up a successful college basketball career at Georgetown, Bolden-Morris was tasked with explaining a concept (in her case, field zones) as part of the program’s ongoing coaching series, “Teach the Game,” where coaches gave presentations to the entire team. Looking back on the moment, Bolden-Morris (who goes by Mimi) won’t lie: She was nervous.

“My first time talking in front of that many people about something that I’m just learning myself,” Bolden-Morris told ESPN.

But she prepared. For weeks leading up to her presentation, she studied the concept over and over. “I wanted to set the tone that I’m not here to B.S.”

For a lot of players on the team, this was their first glimpse not only of a recent addition to the coaching staff, but also the first woman to join a Power 5 program since Carol White in the 1980s.

“She educated us on it,” walk-on linebacker Jerome Nichols said of the presentation. “You could see that she wants to be a better coach. She wants to prove people who might be doubting her because she’s a woman or she’s Black wrong.”

Even if it took Bolden-Morris a bit of time to get comfortable in her role, her energy was palpable immediately. And once she began working with everyone from the tight ends to the scout defense to the quarterbacks, her presence became more personal.

“She’s become an instrumental part of the culture here,” walk-on linebacker Christian Boivin said. “There’s a lot of people that can break down X’s and O’s and she can, but it’s a God-given gift to be able to connect with people on a personal level and then teach them.”

In the middle of a dream season for Michigan in which it is 13-0, beat Ohio State for the second season in a row and made it back to the College Football Playoff, Bolden-Morris is one of many behind-the-scenes operators who has had a hand in helping the Wolverines reach the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (4 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN/ESPN App). But while there has been a clear acknowledgement of her role as a trailblazer in the field, there is a deeper appreciation for the value she’s added to the Michigan program on and off the field as the Wolverines sit two wins away from a national championship.

“She brings a different perspective, let alone all the hard work she puts in,” starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy said. “It’s something that every college football program should have.”

FOR AS LONG as she can remember, Bolden-Morris always wanted to play football.

Who could blame her? The Bolden-Morris family hails from Belle Glade, Florida, a place where Friday night football was the social hub, the place to be seen, the spot to break out new fits and where the community banded together. Football wasn’t part of the culture. It was the culture. Because of it, Bolden-Morris became a football fanatic.

“It was just one of the first things I understood,” Bolden-Morris said. “And one of the first things I loved.”

It helped too that her brother, Michigan senior defensive end Mike Morris, played football from an early age. Their dad coached him. Bolden-Morris attended practices, games and threw the ball around with Morris whenever she could.

“I was at my practices and she would throw me the football and she threw it farther than any of my quarterbacks growing up,” Morris said.

“I loved competing with the guys,” Bolden-Morris said. “I was that one girl that always got to play because I was good, most of the time better than a lot of them. And I was competitive and that was my outlet.”

Her mother, Melanie, prevented Bolden-Morris from suiting up in pads because she feared for her safety. Bolden-Morris found outlets, though. She warmed up the receivers for her brother’s team, stepped in as quarterback during practices and eventually joined a coed flag football league where she played until high school. And nearly every night, she and her dad would sit in front of the TV and watch games and highlights, regularly discussing specific teams and players.

“I loved that I was the opposite of my mom — she was the dancer, the cheerleader, the model. I was the athlete,” Bolden-Morris said. “It wasn’t really like one single event getting me into football. It was just an accumulation of being exposed to it over and over. And it just became like, this is the norm.”

Still, playing football at a high level wasn’t an option, so when a coach in middle school asked Bolden-Morris if she had ever considered basketball, a then-hesitant Bolden-Morris picked it up on the fly and found herself enjoying the pace. Basketball became a way for Bolden-Morris to channel her skills and competitive nature. It also became another channel to produce duels with her brother.

“We would definitely get into some fights when someone would foul hard,” Mike Morris said. “My dad had to break them up.”

Bolden-Morris stuck with basketball, eventually playing at Boston College before transferring to Georgetown, where her passion for football would be rekindled. In need of some pocket change, Bolden-Morris heard of a rec league football organization that taught kids how to play and held competitive games on weekends.

“I reached out to the CEO of the organization and it became a job that I was doing originally for pocket money,” Bolden-Morris said. “Then I fell in love with it.”

She connected with Georgetown’s football team and began helping with recruiting and logistics primarily. Still, she wasn’t as close to the game as she would have liked. Poetically enough, it was her mom who encouraged her to get connected with Michigan. In fact, she was the one who made the call to Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh & Co. were intrigued by the idea. They had Bolden-Morris meet quarterback coaches for an internship. They picked her brain. After a grad assistant position opened, Harbaugh called Bolden-Morris.

“I came away extremely impressed with her desire and ideas for coaching, and for making us better as a team,” Harbaugh said in the news release announcing Bolden-Morris’ hire. He then used a word that would turn out to be a harbinger for what players keep praising when it comes to what Bolden-Morris has added to the team: “We can’t wait to see the new perspective she brings to our team.”

IN A SPORT dominated by coaches with larger-than-life personalities and distinct styles, Bolden-Morris is relatable to the players who fall within her rank. Less than a year ago at Georgetown, she was in player meetings and practices just like them, attending classes and workouts and maintaining the balance of pouring everything into the game while also pondering what could be next once it’s all done.

“I was just in their shoes,” Bolden-Morris said. “And regardless of the sport, I get it. You commit so much of your time, some of your life to the sport that you want to be so good at. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Because she’s been both a star — she led Georgetown in scoring last season — and a reserve player throughout her career, Bolden-Morris believes it helps her relate to other athletes. For the Michigan players who she has worked and interacted with this season, Bolden-Morris is more than just a historic hire. She is a mirror.

“The perspective she brings … you can tell she really loves this and wants to learn more and do more,” tight end Luke Schoonmaker said. “Seeing the work she puts in, that’s how you know someone loves it that much.”

The role of a grad assistant is amorphous. One reason it is often the first steppingstone in the coaching industry is because grad assistants are usually tasked with different jobs with different position groups, units and types of players. Bolden-Morris spends practices and meetings with the scout defense, helps with quarterbacks and on game days, she keeps track of the tight ends, substitution patterns and communication.

“That’s an important piece of the puzzle because of the fact that we use so many tight ends and multiple sets and different things,” co-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore said. “So she’s got to be on point on cue, and she is.”

One thing Bolden-Morris realized quickly was she wasn’t afraid to ask questions. Bolden-Morris credits learning the game as a kid for providing a foundation in which she continues to build on. Initially, as she was getting up to speed in her preparation, she walked the halls of the football facility and popped into coaches’ offices asking questions, trying to expedite the learning process.

“I don’t really have to think about it,” Bolden-Morris said of how far she’s come in one season in that game-day role. “I know exactly what play we’re running and who should go where.”

Though the “what” has been easy to pick up, learning the “why” has been, as she put it, transformational, allowing her to now feel confident enough to take on more responsibilities and speak up with suggestions in meetings.

And that’s just the assigned football tasks. Bolden-Morris’ role as a mentor off the field, especially for freshmen transitioning from high school to college, has been notable. Bolden-Morris has assumed a unique role as a guide of sorts to younger players still scrambling to get the feel for college life as well as walk-ons who may not typically get much attention.

“I think they appreciate that I’m not just looking at them as football players but I see them as human beings because that’s what they are first,” Bolden-Morris said. “I understand what it’s like. So I’m taking my life lessons and trying to teach them so that they’re not burdened with the same feeling that I went through feeling helpless and worthless.”

To say such a mindset has resonated with players would be an understatement. Coaches, too.

“I think the vibe, the energy she brings, it definitely pushes me and puts me even in a better mood,” Moore said. “Whether it’s the offense, defense, special teams, everybody connects with her.”

THE PLAYGROUND MIGHT have changed from Belle Glade to Ann Arbor, but the competitive spark has remained between Bolden-Morris and her brother. To hear other Michigan players talk about it, the two still compete on everything from random 40-yard dashes to being on time.

“Now some of the things we compete on are like, who’s going to retire my mom first?” Bolden-Morris said. “Who’s going to do this first, make a certain amount of money first? And we hold each other accountable on our own goals. So that’s another way that we compete — who can reach this goal first.”

Just like those Friday night games back home brought everyone together, for Bolden-Morris and Morris, Saturdays have done the same thing.

“Every time I get a sack I look over to the sideline looking for her and all my teammates,” said Morris, who leads the Wolverines with 7.5 sacks this season. “I remember Ronnie [Bell] told me, it’s so cool just watching you every time you make a play like she just gets so excited. And I’m just happy that I’m doing well in front of my sister.”

Morris’ pride has extended to the entire team, which lights up and smiles widen when asked about her. There’s pride in having her as a coach (and yes, they call her “Coach” even if Bolden-Morris has told them they can call her Mimi) and a recognition of how important it is for that barrier to be broken even further.

“I think she’s the trailblazer that the sport needs,” Boivin said. “College football should give other women as well as other African American coaches the ability to step in and have a huge impact.”

Bolden-Morris doesn’t know what the future will bring, but for now she’s content to keep working as part of one of the premier programs in the country and to keep being an example for what can be done in an industry largely monopolized by white men.

Said Nichols: “If she wants to have a long career in this, she definitely could.”

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