UMass Hopes Help Is On Way In Form Of Thorr Bjorn
Former Minuteman Football player Thorr Bjorn '90 was introduced as the school's new Senior Deputy AD
On Wednesday afternoon, UMass Football’s news release shocked the New England collegiate sports community. The tagline from UMass Athletics read, “Thorr Bjorn Joins Massachusetts Athletics As Senior Deputy Athletic Director.”
It was a surprise for many. After 18 years as the athletic director of a very successful Rhode Island program, people wondered, why leave?
The answer was, to come home.
“This is home,” Bjorn said at his introductory press conference on Thursday afternoon. “My wife Cindy went here. We met here. I played football here, got my sport management degree here, got my masters degree here, worked here for 14 years and I was part of some amazing successful programs.
“I was thinking when driving up and thought about the national championship game in football, thinking about the national championship runner-up, thinking about traveling with Elaine Sortino twice to the College World Series, being with Greg Cannella in Philadelphia for the national championship game where we lost to Virginia and being the ticket manager for (John Calipari’s) run to the Final Four.”
After UMass Football lost 44-10 last Tuesday against Akron to fall to 0-9, the program felt like it was heading towards a hopeless dark cloud. Bjorn halted any dismay - at least temporarily - and provided some sense of light at the end of the tunnel for all parts of Minutemen Athletics.
“I think Frank Martin’s a great coach,” Bjorn said. “I got to see Greg Cannella, and I know he just retired, but a great lacrosse coach. There’s so many great programs here. Hockey is obviously unbelievable, so there’s just a lot about the UMass Athletics family that is special and exciting, so I’d like to think that that’s the value that I can bring to this group.”
The new hire also made it known that head football coach Joe Harasymiak would be a vital part of the continued rebuild.
“I’ve known Joe,” Bjorn said. “I think Joe was a great coach watching him coach at Maine and getting to know while he was there, and then following his career both at Minnesota and Rutgers.
“He’s not a good coach, he’s a great coach, and that excites me.”
Bjorn talked about one of his biggest mistakes, and how he learned from it, which relates to the current Minutemen Football landscape.
“When I think about one of the mistakes I made as a 39-year-old athletic director in Year One was probably making a coaching change too soon,” he said. “Why do I say that? We struggled, but there were reasons for it, and I think I listened to some people I shouldn’t have listened to instead of identifying the reason, because sometimes you have to work really hard to maybe not be as good as you want to be.”
Current athletic director Ryan Bamford cosigned that message. Bamford also described what went into making the shock hiring.
“I asked him if he would ever consider leaving Rhode Island, and I don’t think he understood exactly where the question was going to go, but I referenced in particular the need that we had to really have another voice, another administrator and an advisor for me and somebody that I could lean on and trust really over here in our football program,” Bamford said.
ESPN College Football Insider Pete Thamel broke the news of Bjorn’s hiring, but according to Bamford, it had been in the works for a couple of weeks.
“An exciting last 24 hours and really for me, the last two weeks,” Bamford said. “Thorr and I have a tremendous relationship. I have so much respect for him as a human being, as an administrator and obviously being in the Atlantic 10 together and even predating that when I was at Yale and he was here at UMass.”
The current UMass athletic director made it known to the media he was the one responsible for Bjorn’s hiring.
“100 percent my idea,” Bamford said. “I brought it to Thorr before I brought it to anybody to see if he was going to be interested.
“I’m the leader of this department. I’m the director of athletics. My role hasn’t changed. My job hasn’t changed…The authority will rest with me on any department decisions relative to this program or any of our programs.”
Bjorn’s continued gratitude for Bamford and Harasymiak filled the entire press conference.
“I am so happy and so thankful to Ryan, so thankful to Joe for the opportunity to be back on this campus,” Bjorn said. “I got here a little bit early and took a walk in that football stadium, and yes, it’s a little different than it was in 1986, but the memories just came flooding back to me. It was just amazing. It’s a special place.”
The UMass grad sees it very much as a long-term plan, which will begin Dec. 1st, his first day on the job.
“There is no such thing (as immediate success),” Bjorn said. “When I look at this program and I look at this move to the MAC, the thing that gets me so excited is the stability now.
“Ryan shared his vision about stadium renovations and support as it relates to NIL and support as it relates to staff. Those are significant commitments that this University’s making, that Ryan’s making and the chancellor’s making to put Joe and his staff and these amazing players (in a position to succeed).”
Together, Bamford, Bjorn and Harasymiak will be tasked with laying out the future structure of the UMass Football program. Past results have been nothing short of a national embarrassment, but could this be the change which turns things around?
Only time will tell.
Your one-stop-shop for all your sports marketing needs… Owned and Operated by UMASS Grads.
We specialize in providing top-quality marketing & printing services for coaches, athletic directors, and sports marketing professionals.
Get Fan Ready!