Joe Harasymiak was born and raised on the east coast, so when the opportunity came to lead a long-struggling UMass program, he was fully aware of the history of the Minutemen program.
Since joining the FBS program in 2012, they are one of just four programs that have not competed in a bowl game.
Harasymiak left his role as Greg Schiano's defensive coordinator for the opportunity to become an FBS head coach for the first time, hoping to turn around the fortunes of the Minutemen program.
After quickly climbing from defensive backs coach, to defensive coordinator, to head coach in the span of just a handful of seasons at the FCS level at Maine, leading them to a top five ranking and semifinal appearance in 2018, PJ Fleck plucked Harasymiak for a spot on his staff at Minnesota in 2019. He added the co-defensive coordinator title just a year later before leaving to join Schiano's staff.
The former school record holder for interceptions with 17 as a small college standout defensive back at Springfield (D-III - MA), Harasymiak is eight games into his tenure leading the Minutemen, and they're still looking for their first win.
Before taking his team to Central Michigan to face fellow first-year head coach Matt Drinkall and the Chippewas this past weekend, facing mounting injuries, Harasymiak did what every high school coach in America does well past his prime.
He headed over to play some scout team.
UMass entered the week of prep leading up to their matchup with CMU down nearly two dozen players, including the team's leading tackler as well as three of the team captains.
Facing the need to still prep his team for the upcoming game, and not enough healthy bodies to do so, the 39-year old decided to take on some scout team responsibilities after weighing some other creative options.
“You’re looking at the scout team corner this week,” Harasymiak told the press during his Monday media availability.
“I wasn’t terrible," he shared modestly, "Division III corner, so here we go. This is what is needed."
Harasymiak wasn't the only one putting sweat in the bucket from the coaching staff, he shared that some additional coaches would be doing work in the secondary, and stepping in at wide receiver.
He did mention that they considered practicing offense and defense separately, something they did during his time at Maine, but ultimately decided coaches filling in on scout presented a better option.
This is the point we'd like to share that the former Division III standout and some assistants stepping in to fill scout team roles, but that's not what happened here. The Chippewas used some big plays to march to a significant 38-13 victory.