Joe Harasymiak intends to get a Gatorade bath one day at UMass.
But last Thursday wasn’t the day for it.
As the final seconds ticked away on UMass’ 37-21 win over Rutgers, Harasymiak caught a glimpse of his players getting ready to dump a water jug over his head.
He wasn’t interested.
“Whether it’s right or wrong, I told them to act like we’ve been here,” Harasymiak said after the game. “You’re not putting the water jug on me. You’re not doing that. I don’t want that.
“Let’s change this place and act like we’ve been here before. And that’s the goal.”
Of course, none of the current Minutemen had been there before, at least not at UMass.
After an 0-12 season in his first year, Harasymiak’s squad entered Thursday on a 16-game losing streak. But throughout the buildup to the season-opener, he wasn’t talking about going to Rutgers and hoping to pull off an upset.
He was talking about winning.
“The team meeting (Wednesday) night was we’re coming here to win the game,” Harasymiak said.
The Minutemen did exactly that and when they did, he wanted them to respond like a team that expected it.
“When I turned around, I saw them, I got pissed and I was like, ‘Put it down. We’re not doing that,’” he said.
“That’s for championships, that’s for bowl games. We went on the road, we beat a great opponent, here we go, shake their hand and let’s go get it.”
It wasn’t an attempt to minimize what UMass had accomplished. Instead, it was about continuing to try to change the program’s expectations.
“We’re an FBS school,” he said Monday. “I understand that it’s been a certain way, and with me last year. But that’s what’s expected. Earn the right to win. That’s what we have to go do.
“I told them just earlier in the week, when we go there and win, just act like we were supposed to win.”
Harasymiak believed his team had earned that right through its preparation and wants them to embrace his vision of how to handle success.
“I have a certain style and a certain personality,” he said. “I want to win with respect, respecting the game, respecting your opponent and doing the right things.”
The victory immediately brought a level of attention to UMass that the program hadn’t experienced in some time, at least not for something positive. There were media requests, interviews and plenty of people suddenly interested in what Harasymiak and the Minutemen were doing.
That part, he was more than happy to embrace.
“That’s honestly the best part of the job, just kind of reacting to that stuff and just living it,” he said.
The shock that helped generate so much of that attention won’t be there the next time. UMass can only go from 0-12 to winning a game nobody expected it to win once.
So, if the Minutemen generate that kind of attention again, there will probably be another Gatorade bath nearby.
And this one would be the kind Harasymiak would proudly accept.
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