According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, UMass is expected to hire veteran offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian as the school’s offensive coordinator. Bajakian has extensive NFL and college coaching coaching experience. If the name is familiar to you, it should be. He served as Steve Addazio’s offensive coordinator at Boston College in 2019.

Bajakian most recently served as interim offensive coordinator at Utah to end the season. He also served as senior offensive analyst and quarterbacks coach as well. Prior to that, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern under Pat Fitzgerald from 2020 to 2023. 

When Bajakian was at Boston College, the Eagles boasted one of the top rushing attacks in the ACC and they ranked third nationally in Power 5 rushing offenses. The Eagles ranked 47th in total offense at 429.2 yards per game and averaged 31.4 points per game. Good numbers considering Addazio’s run first approach.

The Williams College graduate has also coordinated offenses at Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Tennessee. Bajakian also coached in the NFL as an offensive quality control coach with the Chicago Bears and as a quarterbacks coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2015-2018. He has extensive experience in multiple systems and he will bring that experience to UMass. 

Both Bajakian and new Minutemen Coach Joe Harasymiak are New Jersey guys. Both of them attended college in Western, Massachusetts. They have long standing recruiting ties in the area. Both will place a premium on toughness and running the football. 

It is not to say that Bajakian will be three yards and a cloud of dust. He will open up the offense. The Minutemen will throw plenty but the basis of the offense will be running the football and establishing a physical presence. 

Considering the current state of the program, landing a coordinator of Bajakian’s caliber is massive for UMass. He is a credible coordinator with a proven system.

Now it will be up to Harasymiak and his staff to bring in the tight players to run it.