In a surprising move, Harvard has gone with an outsider to replace legend Tim Murphy.
On Monday morning, the Crimson officially announced Andrew Aurich – who has been coaching multiple offensive positions the last few years at Rutgers – as just the fifth coach in program history since the Ivy League began playing football in 1956.
“I am excited to welcome Andy Aurich as The Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach for Harvard Football,” AD Erin McDermott said in a statement. “He brings great coaching and recruiting experience from Rutgers as well as his time at Princeton and in the NFL. He is a true Ivy model of an educator-coach and brings a hard-nosed, focused mentality that is both caring and demanding. We look forward to the future of Harvard Football with Coach Aurich.”
“I would like to thank Erin McDermott and all those on the search committee for their support,” Aurich added. “I especially want to thank Eion Hu, Andrew Berry, and Ryan Fitzpatrick for their passion for this program. I have been preparing for this moment all my professional life and look forward to making a difference in the lives of the young men in this program. Harvard is the best academic institution in the world, and we will pursue the same level of excellence on the field.”
Aurich also has plenty pf Ivy League experience, having coached Princeton in 2011 and then again from 2013-2019 as special teams, tight ends, running backs and eventually, associate head coach in 2017. In 2018, the Tigers led the Ivy in rushing, while leading the FCS in scoring (all-time Ivy record 47.0 ppg) en route to a 10-0 season and league championship. Aurich was named offensive coordinator/offensive line coach for 2019, directing one of the Ivy League’s top offensive attacks before heading to Rutgers in ’20. Aurich also played at Princeton as an offensive lineman
In 2012, Aurich also gained some NFL experience as a defensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Prior to all his D1 experience and the short stop in the NFL, Aurich began his collegiate coaching career at Albright College, a D3 school in Reading, Pennsylvania. While serving as Albright’s tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, Aurich helped the Lions to a 5-win improvement over the previous season in his first year, going from two wins in 2006 to seven in ’07. In 2008, Aurich guided Albright to a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) championship, its first since 1997.
The hiring did come as a surprise to many alumni, who believed a promotion from Harvard’s fantastic staff was most likely the route that would be taken. It’ll be interesting to see how Aurich is able to convince them that he was in fact the correct choice.
Filling Murphy’s shoes for anyone was and is never going to be easy, but now even more pressure will be on Aurich to prove the decision makers and higher ups correct with this move.
Below is a full timeline of Aurich’s coaching career courtesy of Harvard PR:
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS
2023 – tight ends
2022 – running backs
2021 – offensive line
2020 – offensive line
PRINCETON TIGERS
2019 – associate head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive line
2018 – associate head coach, offensive line, recruiting coordinator
2017 – associate head coach, offensive line, recruiting coordinator
2016 – offensive line, recruiting coordinator
2015 – tight ends, special teams
2014 – tight ends, special teams
2013 – tight ends, special teams
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
2012 – defensive assistant
PRINCETON TIGERS
2011 – running backs
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS
2010 – defensive assistant
2009 – player development
ALBRIGHT COLLEGE LIONS
2008 – tight ends, assistant recruiting coordinator
2007 – tight ends, assistant recruiting coordinator
CONCORDIA ACADEMY BEACONS
2006 – varsity assistant coach