Three takeaways from ‘UMass Sports Insider’
UMass Football was highlighted on NESN last week, when Joe Harasymiak and his staff highlighted some important topics.
It’s a new era of UMass football, and it was on full display March 5 as NESN aired “UMass Sports Insider,” taking Minutemen fans behind the scenes in Amherst. Fans got to hear from members of the coaching staff along with athletic director Ryan Bamford to get an inside look of head coach Joe Harasymiak’s new-look UMass program.
Here are three takeaways from the episode:
“It’s A Process”
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will Harasymiak’s team, but the process of building a winner appears to be well underway.
“It was definitely a process,” Harasymiak said. “We kind of took our time with it. I think it takes a while to get it right. I think one thing that I've learned in the past is kind of don't rush. Whether I was a coordinator or head coach in the past. I think taking your time to do the interview process, getting to know people.”
The process for Harasymiak started right when he arrived on campus, meeting with every player in the program individually before they left for winter break. From there on out, he began to assemble his staff.
“The first thing that I did was we had a team meeting that first night and then the next three days before they had left for winter break, got an individual one on one meeting with every player in the team,” Harasymiak said. “And with that, you know, kind of got some background on who they are as a person, where they're at, academically, football wise and kind of tried to get a good scope of the landscape here.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian is no stranger to change, making the transition process a lot easier than it may be for others.
“Transition is not new to me,” Bajakian said. “I've been in this position quite a few times, and one of the things I've learned along the way is that you gotta keep it simple. Especially spring number one, when you're introducing all the new concepts and all the new terminology to the guys, we're going to take it at a slow pace and allow them to get a foundation and build accordingly.
“By the time we hit training camp this summer, we should be firing on all cylinders, and we can expedite that process.”
While many fans may just want to skip to Week 1 against Temple, Harasymiak and his staff are more focused on being the best versions of themselves each day.
“Just continue to be where our feet are each day, one step at a time, and always progress,” Harasymiak said. “There's always moving forward, and I think that's every time we go to work out or we go in the weight room. We can't play on Saturdays yet. So right now, how you approach that process is going to lead to the result that comes and that's what we want to focus on.”
New England Football
It’s clear UMass is planning to plant its roots deep within New England — both on and off the field.
“I think doing a good job in those areas are going to lead us to the best players,” Harasymiak said. “Now we have to do our job and get them to come here. But certainly, just from an alumni standpoint, a fan base standpoint, you know, local guys always get cheered for a little louder.”
Harasymiak wants to keep the best players from New England, in New England, all while adopting a physical play style that is conducive to the elements they may face on the field.
“I think there's a certain sense of toughness and physicality in this region,” defensive coordinator Jared Keyte said. “That's what we want to be on defense. We want to play with violence. We want to swarm to the football.
“I'm excited to recruit and be in the area, because I think there's a certain toughness and a certain personality that goes along with this area.”
Bajakian is taking the same approach on the offensive side of the ball, wanting to be able to have success moving the ball through the air and on the ground.
“I've always believed strongly in balance, and that's important,” Bajakian said. “You got to be able to run the football. You have to be able to throw the football. So the elements are, you know, are always going to be a part of wherever you play the game. You always got to be prepared for the rain, the snow, the cold. In reality, I understand that those elements will probably only exist towards the end of the season, as you get into late-October and November.”
Money Moves
With this new-look UMass program, it’s more evident than ever that the university is willing to give them ample resources to compete within the MAC. A big step in that was bringing in Jason Bermant ‘98 as the Executive Director of Student Athlete Marketing, Recruitment and Retention.
Bermant has experience working in sports marketing and in finance with the Department of Defense, clearly making him a strong choice to lead UMass into this new era of college football.
“Ryan (Bamford) sort of saw that there was a void that's coming in the marketplace,” Bermant said. “We need to be in front of that and to address the NIL market.”
Bermant’s role essentially consists of being a liaison between the student-athletes and potential NIL opportunities they can receive.
“We've got to be able to look at each one of our student-athletes, and be able to understand what their needs, their wants, desires, are, where they want to align with,” Bermant said. “On top of that, treating them as individuals that need to understand things that are important, like financial literacy. How are we handling their taxes? What are opportunities for wealth management for the future? Really trying to look at this holistically and where they can spend their time, effort and energy on the field, and allowing me and others here to worry about their off-field.”
Bamford also highlighted how UMass’ scholarship program will be expanding, which will have far-reaching effects, even beyond the football program.
“Our scholarship budget is going to grow from roughly 13 and a half million to over 17 million in the next two or three years,” Bamford said. “And it's going to have additional benefits. It's going to be more scholarship dollars for really a lot of our student-athletes, and not these people think about football and basketball especially, but we're going to have probably 15 of our 21 sports really impacted in a positive way from additional scholarship money.”
But if one thing seems to be clear — UMass is going all-in on winning, and winning now.
“We need to go all in here,” Bamford said. “We can't put one foot in and kind of dance around like we need to be invested, especially in football. Everything in college athletics right now is predicated on football success, it's the engine driving the car. And so I'm happy to say that with our inclusion in the MAC, that investment in the NIL space, our investment in our football infrastructure, our staffing models, the things that we're doing every day, that'll bear fruit.
“We need to build a winning program again. Now, we have a chance to win a championship, a chance to go to bowl games, and that investment is going to carry us.”
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