AMHERST, Mass. – Joe Harasymiak has been chosen to lead the University of Massachusetts football program, Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford announced on Wednesday. Harasymiak has spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Rutgers and is a former head coach at the University of Maine, where he was named the 2018 National FCS Coach of the Year. Harasymiak will be introduced in a press conference at 10 a.m. on Friday, December 6.
“We are thrilled to welcome Joe, his wife, Brittany, and daughters, Sophie and Ellie, to the Massachusetts Athletics family,” said Bamford. “With extensive ties to football in the northeast, which began in our back yard where he excelled at Springfield College, he is the perfect fit to lead us into a new era. A successful leader, recruiter and tactician, his feats have included a conference championship at Maine, and most recently helping Rutgers to back-to-back bowl seasons. Joe has been a proven winner at every level. After our intensive search process, he emerged as the ideal fit to lead our program into the Mid-American Conference. For the last six years he has built highly successful defenses in the Big Ten and has showcased an impactful record in recruiting and in building relationships with his players.”
“For many reasons that became apparent in the search process, Coach Harasymiak is the ideal candidate to lead the football program at our flagship campus,” said University of Massachusetts Chancellor Javier A. Reyes. “Joe’s leadership qualities, vision for program-building in this new NCAA environment and his authentic care for the growth of his players, on and off the field, became evident in our search. We’re excited for Joe and his family to join our campus and to move our program to new heights as we enter the Mid-American Conference. I want to thank trustee David Brunelle, AD Ryan Bamford and alumnus Marty Jacobson ’68 for their important roles in our search and selection process.”
“The search process for the head coach at our flagship campus was extremely thorough and thoughtful, resulting in an outstanding final candidate in Coach Harasymiak,” added trustee and chair of the athletics committee David Brunelle. “I want to thank Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford for his strong leadership of both our department and the rigorous process leading to the selection of Joe among a fantastic group of interested candidates. Our goal to show connectivity and alignment between the Board of Trustees, Chancellor Reyes and AD Bamford was evident to all candidates, agents and constituents involved in this search. We have great momentum with this important appointment and look forward to supporting Ryan and Joe in our collective mission to build a winning program.”
"I am thrilled and extremely grateful for this opportunity to be the next head coach at the University of Massachusetts,” said Harasymiak. “I want to thank Chancellor Reyes, Ryan Bamford, Trustee Brunelle and alumnus Marty Jacobson for believing in me to be the next leader of this great program. It was clear to me that we have outstanding leadership and alignment from the top down that will allow us to compete for MAC championships and to sustain that success. I can’t wait to get around our student-athletes and start building relationships. My wife, Brittany, and daughters Sophie and Ellie can’t wait to get to Amherst."
Harasymiak (pronounced hare-uh-SIM-ee-ack) has served as the Scarlet Knights’ defensive coordinator for each of the past three seasons while also coaching the linebackers in 2024. He was a 2022 and 2023 Broyles Award nominee for the Scarlet Knights, given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.
Harasymiak and Rutgers finished the 2024 regular season with a 7-5 mark and the Scarlet Knights are poised to make second consecutive bowl appearance. In 2023, he helped Rutgers post its first winning season since 2014, including a win over Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
Prior to Rutgers, Harasymiak was at Minnesota, where he served as the defensive backs/safeties coach (2018-19) and as the co-defensive coordinator (2020-21). In 2021, Minnesota ranked third in the nation in total defense, and he helped the Golden Gophers to a 9-4 record, including a victory in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. In 2019, Harasymiak’s defensive unit included safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who was named a unanimous All-American and who went on to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Harasymiak originally joined the Minnesota staff ahead of the 2018 Quick Lane Bowl.
Harasymiak advanced up the coaching ranks at Maine, starting as a defensive assistant/defensive backs coach in 2011 and working his way to serving as head coach from 2016-18. He led the Black Bears to the 2018 CAA Championship with a 7-1 conference record. Maine then advanced to the first Football Championship Subdivision national semifinal game in program history and finished the year with a 10-4 overall record. He was then named the 2018 FCS Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association.
A native of Waldwick, New Jersey, Harasymiak graduated from Springfield College in 2008 after playing defensive back for the Pride from 2004-07, setting the program record for career interceptions (17). He transitioned straight into coaching, serving as an assistant coach at Maine Maritime Academy for the 2008 season before returning to Springfield as a graduate assistant coach from 2009-10 (wide receivers/quarterbacks).
