UMass, Harasymiak Will Have Portal Plan
The Transfer Portal opens next week.
AMHERST, Mass. - The next phase of Joe Harasymiak’s offseason will kick off even before the current phase wraps up.
UMass will hold its annual spring game on Saturday, April 19th.
The Transfer Portal window will open on Wednesday, April 16th.
And, it’s not as if the Minutemen can afford to wait until their spring practice concludes before getting active in the Portal. That window will close on Friday, April 25th.
Basically, programs and players have less than two weeks to decide who’s going to stay, who’s going to go and where.
“It's a constant evaluation,” Harasymiak told reporters last week. “I think a lot of the decisions that we make moving forward will be off of these spring practices. That's why they're so important, all of them.”
Fortunately for Harasymiak, he believes his current goal will complement at least one part of the Portal equation for him.
“I think the number one thing that we need to focus on is our culture and keep building that up,” he said. “Because the culture will weed out the guys that don't want to be here and it'll show you who you can rely on. I think that's what we're trying to teach right now.”
That may help with the departures, but it will be a mad rush across the country when it comes to new arrivals.
“In terms of the Portal and when it opens, we'll have a strategic plan on what we need, where we need to get better,” said Harasymiak.
But while Harasymiak and his staff brought in over two dozen transfers during the first Portal period in December, the spring window will be much more precise.
“We want a high school recruit,” Harasymiak said. “A high school recruit is where you develop your culture. That's your Draft. We've got to draft well. We've got to have the farm system ready.
“Then, the portal will be used as some free agency moving forward to see where we have some holes, see where we need to get more athletic, bigger, all those things that go into it. That's how we're going to plan our approach to that.”
