Image courtesy of AP Photos
By Ryan Barry
NEFJ Staff
The nearly two and a half week search for the next UMass football head coach finally came to an end on Wednesday morning as they named Rutgers defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak to lead the program.
On the heels of what felt like a never ending news cycle of blunders and misunderstandings throughout multiple levels of the program the past couple of weeks, there’s finally some good news in Amherst.
Harasymiak, 38, will take on what is regularly considered one of the nations toughest head coaching positions. His five-year deal is expected to be between $1.3 and $1.4 million dollars annually, with a reported $2.7 million available for a staff pool.
“We are thrilled to welcome Joe, his wife, Brittany, and daughters, Sophie and Ellie, to the Massachusetts Athletics family,” said AD Ryan Bamford I’m a statement. “With extensive ties to football in the northeast, which began in our back yard where he excelled at Springfield College, he is the perfect fit to lead us into a new era. A successful leader, recruiter and tactician, his feats have included a conference championship at Maine, and most recently helping Rutgers to back-to-back bowl seasons. Joe has been a proven winner at every level. After our intensive search process, he emerged as the ideal fit to lead our program into the Mid-American Conference. For the last six years he has built highly successful defenses in the Big Ten and has showcased an impactful record in recruiting and in building relationships with his players.”
The Waldwick, New Jersey native spent the past three seasons leading the Scarlet Knights defensive unit.
His debut season in Piscataway saw the Scarlet Knights finish 95th in the nation in team defense, but saw dramatic improvement in 2023 finishing 34th overall. This season the group finished 59th, just ahead of the FBS median.
His teams produced two NFL draft picks, including cornerbacks Christian Braswell in the sixth round to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2023, along with Max Melton in the second round to the Arizona Cardinals in 2024.
Before arriving in New Jersey, Harasymiak spent three years on the defensive staff under PJ Fleck at Minnesota.
As the safeties coach in 2019 he coached future NFL All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr., and was promoted to co-defensive coordinator for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The Golden Gophers went from having the 69th ranked team defense in 2020 to the sixth best in 2021, finishing top ten that season in points allowed per game, completion percentage, passing yards per game, rushing yards per game, and total yards per game.
Harasymiak spent eight seasons at Maine prior to his time in the Twin Cities, with the first five years in positions coaching and the defensive coordinator role, before leading the program as head coach for three years between 2016 and 2018.
Amassing a 20-15 record leading the Black Bears, Harasymiak oversaw one of the program’s best seasons ever, finishing with a 10-4 record, a conference championship, and an FCS semifinal appearance, the first ever in the school’s history.
That season saw the Black Bears get two All-American team nods, a 31-28 win over Western Kentucky of the FBS, an AFCA FCS Coach of the Year award, as well as a final FCS Coaches Poll ranking of fifth in the country.
Before arriving in Orono he spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Springfield College, as well as a year on staff at Maine Maritime before that.
Harasymiak was a rumored candidate for the UMass job back in 2018 and 2021, so it feels almost inevitable that his path is finally being carved out to Amherst.
After three seasons of a defensive minded head coach in since fired Don Brown, it’s interesting to see the program lean into that style again, so whoever Harasymiak brings in to fill the offensive coordinator role will be under quite the microscope.
His deep ties to New England college football are a plus, as is his familiarity with the Pioneer Valley being a Springfield alum. Combining that with his knowledge of the Northeast being a native of New Jersey, an area he’s definitely comfortable recruiting, there’s a lot to like about what he can bring to UMass.
Staring down the rabbit hole of his 2024 performance at Rutgers, you do walk away feeling a little underwhelmed. 42 points surrendered to 5-7 Wisconsin, 35 points to 5-7 UCLA, and 42 points to 6-6 USC in three straight weeks is certainly concerning, with their only good win being a 26-19 victory over 7-5 Minnesota.
Still, there’s a lot to like about Harasymiak that shouldn’t be boiled down to one season, which considering how troubled the Rutgers program has been since joining the Big Ten, is by all means a relatively successful season at 7-5 with a bowl appearance.
While Twitter/X is not the only barometer for fan impressions, it was interesting to see the temperature for other potential head coaching hires, particularly that of Neal Brown.
Once the longtime favorite if the job ever became open again, the since fired West Virginia coach was expected to be a candidate most would’ve clamored for given his UMass roots and success at Troy prior to landing in Morgantown.
However, the adoration wasn’t as excitable, perhaps due to the celebration of termination from Mountaineer fans, and a caution among UMass folks who thought bringing in another nostalgia hire might be tiring.
Lehigh coach Kevin Cahill would’ve probably drawn the ire of fans given his relatively small track record, and while at one point in time it felt like Yale coach Tony Reno was becoming the favorite, it was probably best for both parties to not pursue one another.
Harasymiak should do the trick in making fans at least temporarily forget about the turbulent past few weeks, with athletic director Ryan Bamford possibly buy-ing back into the favor of a fanbase that spent seemingly every waking moment on social media calling for his head.
In general, this feels like a home run hire, but not a hugely significant one. This isn’t a grand slam, nor a crucial go-ahead, game tying, or career milestone home run.
This is more of a solo shot while trailing by a few runs, hire. Sure, you’ve knocked it out of the park and gotten a run back, it’s an awesome temporary feeling that you worked hard for. But then again, you’re still looking up at the scoreboard thinking damn, we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
With a reported $2 million incoming for NIL and revenue sharing for the 2025 season, along with an increase to $3 million for 2026, the program will be stepping into the Mid-American Conference with sizable resources to compete.
For people who are upset about “where this investment was” with Don Brown, Walt Bell, Mark Whipple, or Charley Molnar all the way when this FBS experiment started, the answer is quite simple: desperation.
As dire as things seemed at nearly every coaching turn throughout those points, nowhere then does the program meet the levels of “stranded in the middle of the desert with no water” desperation that UMass football finds itself now.
You could argue it felt that way with the Bell to Brown transition, but it so many ways today is worse, because the one guy that everyone thought could fix it didn’t.
If you asked any UMass fan back in 2021 when Brown was hired what would happen if he couldn’t turn things around, without a doubt at least half of those people would say, “it’s time to cut the program then.”
If your knight in shining armor couldn’t do it, then who else can? This is the task that Bamford and new chancellor Javier Reyes seemed to have finally gotten the grasp of this time around. This embarrassment simply can’t continue, the program cannot afford to remain the laughing stock of college football.
As much as the past few weeks may have seemed that way by the nature in which Brown was fired, the senior day debacle, and the UConn rivalry game trophy fiasco, the hiring of Harasymiak and full on financial commitment are an indictment that it’s truly put up or shut up in Amherst.
So with that, for a mind boggling fifth time since 2012, let’s hope things get better this time around.