CASPER — Heading into his 34th season as head football coach at Natrona County High School, Steve Harshman talks about an NFL player who still repeats the Mustangs’ team motto.
“There are only two things in life you can control — your attitude and your effort,” Harshman said. “That’s our motto, that’s what we tell them.”
That perspective has carried Cincinnati Bengals standout linebacker Logan Wilson through the University of Wyoming to success in the NFL.
Harshman said hearing Wilson continue to represent the motto and Mustangs is a “cool outcome” for a high school coach.
Harshman is quick to share that there are many other former players who have used it to succeed in various ways.
Elected to the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023, Harshman’s success on the field has been mirrored in the state’s political arena.
He has been elected to represent House District 37 on the south side of Casper since 2003. From 2017-2020 he served two terms as speaker of the House in the Wyoming Legislature.
Putting everything in its proper place remains important. He quotes past House Speaker Fred Parady from 2003, who gave Harshman political advice he continues to apply to his own life.
“He always said it’s a citizen Legislature,” Harshman said. “The first priority is your family, the second priority is your job, and the third priority is the Legislature.”
‘Overcoming’
Football and “overcoming yourself” have been big themes in his life, Harshman said.
Building a team was important during his early years as a young coach and later during his time as speaker. And it remains his focus as he prepares for the 10 scheduled games ahead for the Natrona County Mustangs this year.
Harshman was a history teacher and strength coach at the high school. He has retired from those roles, but is happy for the opportunity to continue his job as the high school’s head football coach. That’s a good thing, he has the most wins of any other active coach in the state at 234, to 102 losses, a nearly 70% winning record.
“It is really a vocation versus an occupation,” Harshman said. “I am truly blessed.”
As the former college captain and center on the Black Hills State University football team turns 61, Harshman still calls his job leading a program of 150 to 170 kids “fun.” As July came to a close, he was headed to an annual three-day retreat near Laramie Peak with 30-some seniors he calls “Camp Victory.”
His team’s first practice is on the calendar for Aug. 12 just after midnight, starting with seniors.
“The whole thing is all about relationships. I’m not coaching football for the wins and losses, it’s an avenue to teach kids,” he said. “It’s the way you do things, the way you organize, the way you work, the way you kind of come together and lose that selfishness. That ‘we’ over ‘me’ thing.”
That philosophy and mentorship has led to impressive success over his tenure. It includes seven state championships and five other state championship appearances.
Over the years, Natrona County High School head football coach has focused on senior leadership and mentoring. He believes that is why he attracts 150 to 170 kids to the program each year. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Natrona County High School head football coach Steve Harshman’s success focuses on “overcoming yourself” to achieve victory (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Natrona County High School head coach said he has found his players to be motivated. Here he offers encouragement earlier in his career. (Courtesy Steve Harshman)
Character And Leadership
For 2024’s senior retreat, Harshman said he and his assistant coaches planned to spend time hiking, fishing and creating a team environment to discuss character and leadership qualities such as attitude, effort, enthusiasm, encouragement and overcoming setbacks. Cell phones are forbidden.
They will go through a book together and create a plan for the 2024 squad.
“You get there, and the fire is crackling and the stars are out and you can talk about real stuff,” he said. “So, it’s been really powerful. We’ve had kids who have never caught a fish catch fish, we’ve had kids who have never made a s’more around the campfire, so all these experiences I think are part of that.”
Football for Harshman is in his DNA.
His dad played, so did a brother. Harshman played four sports and served as the student body president at Midwest High School, from where he graduated in 1981. At Black Hills State University, he said he initially was recruited to be a tight end. But injuries to the center position led the coaching staff to ask him if he would be willing to try out the spot.
After a “trial by fire,” Harshman said he loved the position and went on to be named all-conference center twice. He was inducted into the university’s hall of fame in 2012.
Hired at Natrona County High School in 1991, Harshman regrets his first two years that resulted in just one win through the 1991 and 1992 seasons.
“I still see those kids here, and they are in their 40s and I’ve got some of their kids, second generation now. I always apologize to them,” he said. “I was 27 years old and a pretty hard-charger. But you learn from that, and you keep going. All that stuff in the end I think falls on the coach, you are responsible for that and we didn’t do a very good job, bottom line.”
Winning Ways
However, by 1996 the Mustangs would be state champs. Winning records and playoff success would be repeated often ove3r the following decades.
Harshman has confidence in the quality of the young men in his program.
“I think the kids work really hard and I think they’ve got a lot of passion and come together as a team thing, that miracle of a team,” he said. “The beauty of it when you’ve been successful is the last game win or lose everybody is crying, because that’s it. It’s over.”
For his 51st football squad as a player and coach, Harshman planned to ask his seniors about the seniors they most looked up to when they were younger players. He believes the role of mentor and having an impact on a younger person’s life can be more rewarding than any football accolade.
Earlier this summer, the impact of Natrona County High School’s football program drew Wilson and NFL defensive lineman Taven Bryan back to their alma mater for football camps.
Harshman said “it’s cool” that the two were willing to come back to Casper and give back to the community. He continues to teach his players about the need for community service — “that’s part of this lesson.”
“I remember my old coaches (describing) two types of people, there’s givers and there’s takers,” Harshman said. “Always be a giver. We want to give back and serve, that’s when you start reaching the top of that pyramid, when you are a servant leader. You’ve got to lead yourself first. When you become a servant leader that’s the top of the pyramid in my mind.”
Harshman is surrounded by assistant coaches who have a lot of continuity with the Mustangs’ program. Assistant coach Scott Schutte was Harshman’s fifth-grade classmate in Midwest. They played football together in high school and college. There are former Mustang players on his coaching staff as well.
Harshman’s tenure has witnessed several historic moments.
Seniors from the 2024 Mustangs pose on Laramie Peak with head coach Steve Harshman. Each year, Harshman organizes a senior retreat prior to the start of the season. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
An outing at the Wyoming Air National Guard base for players in Cheyenne as part of team building. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Natrona County High School players line up for the national anthem during a past season. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Members of the Mustangs pose outside the state Capitol during a tour. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Community service is part of the learning on the Natrona County High School football team. Here members pose with youngsters participating in the youth football camp. (Courtesy Steve Harshman) 
Members of the Natrona County High School football team spend time weekly volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club. (Courtesy Steve Harshman)
Call To The White House
In 2002, Harshman was coach when former Vice President Dick Cheney came back to his alma mater, where he played football and was team captain. The new turf field had been put in place following significant community support and fundraising and the school thought about naming it Cheney Alumni Field.
Harshman had the role of contacting the vice president to see if he would agree to lend his name to the project. He called him at the White House.
“I told him this is what we are looking at doing and he said, ‘God, I would be so honored. I would certainly lend my name to that,’” Harshman recalled.
The former history teacher also points to all the history associated with his high school such as the time Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood in its auditorium and talked about how his New Deal works projects built the school’s football stadium in 1934.
“The thing about Natrona County (High School) is that it’s got a great history,” Harshman said. “Not only football, it’s just a great institution, all the great people that have come out of that school and built this town and state and country. It’s just incredible.”
So, as he heads into his 34th season, Harshman again will climb the literal mountain called Laramie Peak with his seniors and tackle the hills of life solving problems and leading young men at a place he enjoys. He continues to build on a legacy because “it’s fun.”
Harshman is almost certain to give his charges his now time-worn, but ever applicable speech on “winning.”
“I always say, we’ve won the most games of out of any school in Wyoming, but we never talk about winning. We’ve never once said, ‘Let’s go win,’” he said. “What we are going to be focused on is number one leading ourselves, encouraging and leading others, and starting to build that thing, and take care of our attitude and our effort. That’s all we can control. Do that every day and you will get a little bit better every day. The rest of that stuff will take care of itself.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
