Mike Hinckley was named the Director of Sports Mental Performance for Harvard Athletics in June 2026. He originally came to Cambridge in 2023, as a mental health clinician and mental performance consultant. Hinckley works with Harvard’s 42 varsity programs to assist student-athletes reach peak performance more consistently and partner with coaching staffs to integrate sport psychology that optimizes performance and wellbeing at the system level.
At Harvard, Hinckley developed the Crimson Comebacks Program, a mentorship initiative providing peer support for injured student-athletes, launched in collaboration with the sports medicine staff. He has delivered numerous presentations and trainings on topics such as injured-athlete support, relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), and Mental Health First Aid to coaches, athletic trainers, and university stakeholders.
A former college basketball player, Hinckley understands first-hand the pressures of competing and performing at a high level while balancing academic demands and maintaining identity outside of sport. Having personally wrestled with the “mental game” himself as a player, he is passionate about helping student athletes develop more effective mindsets and sustainable, positive relationship with their sport.
Hinckley holds an M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Sport and Performance Psychology from Boston University and a B.A. in Psychology and Economics from Dickinson College. He is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in Massachusetts. He is an active member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and the Clinical/Counseling Sport Psychology Association.
Outside of his time working at Harvard, Hinckley continues to compete on the basketball court and seeks out growth-inducing challenges whenever possible.
