Joe Harasymiak Remains Committed To UMass Blueprint
UMass head coach Joe Harasymiak says his biggest challenge after a winless season was resisting the temptation to abandon the process.
After a winless first season, Joe Harasymiak had every reason to question the process.
The UMass head coach even acknowledged his biggest challenge was trusting it, but that’s exactly what he’s doing.
During last week’s MAC Football Kickoff, Harasymiak admitted that navigating a 0-12 season tested his conviction. Still, he resisted the temptation to sacrifice long-term goals for short-term results while rebuilding the Minutemen from the ground up.
“I think the biggest challenge for me was to remind myself, ‘Hey man, you’re a good coach,’” Harasymiak said. “‘We’ve got good coaches. We’ve got to improve the roster, you’ve got a good nucleus here, but you’ve got to stay the course. Don’t sacrifice anything right now for what you want down the road.’
“It’s been hard, but you’ve just got to continue to remind yourself of that.”
Harasymiak’s mindset didn’t develop overnight.
It was shaped by the mentors he worked under throughout his coaching career, beginning with Jack Cosgrove at Maine before stops at Minnesota under P.J. Fleck and Greg Schiano at Rutgers. While each built successful programs in different ways, Harasymiak believes they shared a common philosophy centered on development, building a strong foundation and resisting those shortcuts.
“Before I got to UMass, I was lucky enough to work for Jack Cosgrove at Maine and I took over there,” Harasymiak said. “We had some successful seasons there. Got an opportunity to work for PJ at Minnesota, then Greg Schiano at Rutgers.
“That’s my tree. We kind of do things the same way a little bit with development and foundation, building it from the ground up.”
That foundation looks dramatically different entering Year 2.
Just 11 players remain from the roster Harasymiak inherited when he arrived in Amherst in December of 2024. The coaching staff spent the offseason reshaping nearly every position group through the transfer portal while also bringing in another freshman class, creating a roster the second-year coach believes is much better equipped to compete in the MAC.
“We’ve overhauled it,” Harasymiak said. “We had a great transfer class, a lot of guys that are connected looking for their next opportunity. We’re excited about it, but we need the Tyler Martins, those guys to step up and lead the team. They’ve been doing that this offseason, so I’m excited about it.”
Harasymiak believes the returning nucleus, particularly on defense, gives UMass a stronger starting point than it had a year ago.
“I think we have a nucleus of guys that are returning, especially defensively that have played a lot of snaps for us,” he said. “We’ve got to stay healthy.”
Those returning veterans along with an overhauled roster and more defined outlook have only strengthened Harasymiak’s belief that the program is moving in the right direction.
“If we stay the course and do the right things, we’ll end up winning some games.”
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