New UMass Head Coach Joe Harasymiak was pleased with the first day of spring practice for the UMass Minutemen. Harasymiak met with the media after Monday’s practice for roughly eight minutes and covered a variety of topics. The first thing he addressed was the team’s effort.
“I thought the tempo was good,” Harasymiak said. “I was focused on the flow of practice, I think that’s what I need to pay attention to. There was a lot of anxiousness, a lot of nerves in the beginning. They were kind of running around like a fish out of water. But they were good. I was very pleased we stayed on our feet, which is a sign of a team that takes care of each other and practices the right way. I thought [there were some] good and bad [moments], but as long as we know how to get better from it we’re going to be all right.”
One of the areas Harasymiak kept a close eye on was the quarterbacks. Sophomore A.J Hairston and graduate transfer Grant Jordan got the bulk of the reps and Harasymiak praised the group as well as offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian and offensive analyst Drew Belcher for the job they have done thus far getting the quarterbacks ready for spring football.
“[They’re] good,” Harasymiak said of the UMass QBs. “AJ had a couple shots in there, which was great. Just the way that [offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian] and [offensive analyst Drew Belcher] have handled that room, you saw today that we’re rotating different things, putting a lot on them. I thought for day one… they took control and did a good job.”
Harasymiak wants to use his first spring practice as head coach to develop a culture and foster leadership from his players. It is more than just learning the offense and the defense. Harasymiak wants his players to be accountable and to learn how practice properly and prepare.
In order for the players to learn those characteristics and traits, it has to start with the staff and how they teach according to Harasymiak.
“The leadership and culture that we have to have from the head coach down to the position coaches, coordinators – it’s about consistency,” Harasymiak said. “If we have consistent action, that’ll lead to consistent behavior, and that’s ultimately what produces the results.”
Monday was Harasymiak’s first practice as a head coach since 2018 when he was the head coach at Maine. He is excited to be back in charge of his own program.
“It was awesome,” Harasymiak said. “I had a ton of fun today. It’s just great to be back in that role, grateful for it… We’ve hired a great staff and they did a great job today with the organization. We’ll continue to make some notes and move forward, but yeah, I had a lot of fun for sure.”
Two spring practices in and you can already see that Harasymiak and his staff are laying the foundation for what they hope is a successful turnaround of this once proud program. It will take time but the Minutemen are already showing signs of heading in the right direction.