Coach Joe Harasymiak

[dennisdent]

I'm thinking we could have wrestled Belichick away from the North Carolina Tar Heels. I heard his girlfriend would prefer to live in Massachusetts! LMFAO

Where, Southwest?

No Bill will live in Southwest, she'll stay on Nantucket.

[Quinn]

I’m not typing that guy’s name out every time. He shall be JH henceforth.

Good hire. I will not offer the first “we gotta get rid of this guy” but somebody’ll say it sometime.

Typing it is one thing, pronouncing it is quite another…

Anybody know to say his last name? Hara sim’ eee ak?

Hair-uh-sim-ee-ack

I believe it's that

Chancellor Reyes did the best best thing possible for the UMass program in creating a an easy marketing brand: Coach Joe.

Granted, it was because the pronunciation in English as a second language is a potential nightmare/PR issue, but it was a homerun brand!

#CoachJoe

[Quinn]

I think the consensus is that the BC game is going to get moved, with the possibility of Missouri moving as well. Next year should be UConn, Temple, Iowa, Missouri or G5/FCS replacement, 8 MAC games.



And God willing, the MAC Championship game

Really should just sign a P4 NIL kicker and lock up that Iowa win.

[Quinn]

Oh I don't care. It was 30 years ago. What I dont do is act like umass has some blue blood hoops program because they had a good 5 year run 30 years ago with a few good years sprinkled around. Same could be said about football program. Honestly....I could get on board if bammy wasn't around. I know what he has done to people and what kind of person he is from things covered up by him.

No one (me) said or insinuated that we were some "blue blood hoops program"... I simply referenced a shit program being taken from shit to the top of the sport by a no-name assistant coach.

You can hate the football program for whatever reasons your little heart desires (Bamford, in this case), but the right hire by whoever the fuck the AD is can change things, and we here at UMass have a perfect example of that.

Umass hasn't been good at hoops or football in years! The 20 people on this board seem to be the only die hard umass fans. It's not just umass....amherst and the small towns in the area have close to no support. They would rather see the crap stadium torn down for a art gallery. All umass is a perfect example of what not to do..
.that's been proven. Lose every game...hire coaches..2 years later...fire coaches. Get left at presser by coach. Cover ups. If the chancellor really cared...bammy would be gone. No legit program tolerates missing at every hire...over and over. So...thats your umass example. Keep cheering for a loser program.

The demographic of this board is already known...since it's a message board, and not an app.

We are old-school. And proud.

But it means that the reality of having UMass in an A10 conference with Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, WVU and then other state-u's like Virginia Tech is at least 5 college sports generations ago.

Now, I get your point. The demographics of UMass and all US universities have changed drastically since 2000, especially regarding foreign born and international students. Even if you are at UT-Austin as a student, you aren't likely going to be a sports fan since your social network is other ESL students.

But the future of college sports is entirely based on the next level of separation beyond FBS and FCS.
* FWIW the name change from easy to comprehend 1-A and 1-AA was an NCAA decision from the voting power of the I-AA schools not liking the name as it was clear they weren't at the same level as 1-A. So yeah...the UCD's, Dayton's, and Butlers of football wanted to be considered the same level as Ohio State and Texas from a marketing perspective.

These are the FBS upgrades since 2010:

• UMass (University of Massachusetts) – 2012
• Texas State University – 2012
• UTSA (University of Texas at San Antonio) – 2012
• Georgia State University – 2013
• Appalachian State University – 2014
• Georgia Southern University – 2014
• Old Dominion University – 2014
• Charlotte (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) – 2015
• Coastal Carolina University – 2017
• Liberty University – 2018
• James Madison University – 2022
• Jacksonville State University – 2023
• Sam Houston State University – 2023
• Kennesaw State University – 2024
• Missouri State University – 2025 (transitioning to Conference USA)
• Delaware – 2025 (transitioning to Conference USA)


All of these schools are expected to be FBS by 2030:

• North Dakota State (NDSU)
• Montana
• Montana State
• Eastern Kentucky
• Stephen F. Austin (SFA)
• South Dakota State (SDSU)
• Youngstown State
• UIW (University of the Incarnate Word)
• Central Arkansas
• Tarleton State
• Sacramento State
• Southern Illinois
• Eastern Washington
• Northern Iowa
• Tennessee State



UMass is trying to just remain in the conversation with the likes of the may MAC, CUSA, Sun Belt and other G5 FBS conference schools that participated in an all-sports conference and have had some level of success in the (2) national revenue sports.

UMass has been a better program in football than in basketball since 1996. As sad a reality as that is, it is what it is.



So the least we can do for support is to keep up with the Kennesaw St.'s and Central Arkansas's of the world.

[Merlin Samuels]

Oh I don't care. It was 30 years ago. What I dont do is act like umass has some blue blood hoops program because they had a good 5 year run 30 years ago with a few good years sprinkled around. Same could be said about football program. Honestly....I could get on board if bammy wasn't around. I know what he has done to people and what kind of person he is from things covered up by him.

No one (me) said or insinuated that we were some "blue blood hoops program"... I simply referenced a shit program being taken from shit to the top of the sport by a no-name assistant coach.

You can hate the football program for whatever reasons your little heart desires (Bamford, in this case), but the right hire by whoever the fuck the AD is can change things, and we here at UMass have a perfect example of that.

Umass hasn't been good at hoops or football in years! The 20 people on this board seem to be the only die hard umass fans. It's not just umass....amherst and the small towns in the area have close to no support. They would rather see the crap stadium torn down for a art gallery. All umass is a perfect example of what not to do..
.that's been proven. Lose every game...hire coaches..2 years later...fire coaches. Get left at presser by coach. Cover ups. If the chancellor really cared...bammy would be gone. No legit program tolerates missing at every hire...over and over. So...thats your umass example. Keep cheering for a loser program.

It seems you're frustrated at the AD, and maybe it's personal, I don't really care. I want to focus on your pushback against a Big 10 defensive coordinator taking this job. My opinion is UMass in the MAC all-sports, long term, does provide stability and has made this job more attractive than being an independent team, and even the strange temporary MAC situation we were in before.

So I am glad we have a defensive minded, young coach in place to lead the program into this new chapter. It also seems he will have a much better budget to work with. Hopefully the administration has finally gotten this right.

[wmmmfan]

I have expressed my opinions on both the Administrations lack of support for athletics as well as the performance of our AD when it comes to football and basketball. After watching yesterday’s press conference introducing Coach Joe It appears UMass is moving in the right direction when it comes to its commitment to the football program and G5 FBS football. Hiring Harasymiak and providing him with the financial commitment needed to succeed is a big step forward and it is great to see.
One thing that gave me pause was when RB said they will be communicating to “ stakeholders “ their 5 year plan in the coming weeks. I would hope stakeholders includes the fan base. This is one of my biggest issues with RB, he leaves the fan base in the dark which creates the animosity between us and him. I completely understand large donors get premium access but the success of the total athletic department depends on the fans who show up at the events and if they feel left out their attendance and support is lost.
Coach Joe is a great hire and it’s great to see the support he is receiving. Go UMass!!

[Floyd]

I have a good feeling about this hire. Not too often do I remember who an opposing coach is, unless they're a big name, but I do remember when he was at Maine thinking to myself, this guy is a good coach. I didn't realize how young he was, which is a good thing actually, and his having roots to the area may make him want to stay here if he's successful, and be one of those legacy guys. But we'll see. Be interesting to see his staff fill out

[minutefanjsf]

It seems like Alex Miller may be retained by the new coach. A few more offers identify Alex the offering coach today.

[eldonabe]

I am reminded of a Rodney Dangerfield movie (i think it was Easy Money). Early in he is betting on a harness race and his horse is way out front, The jockey looks around to see he has a huge lead and drops his heels into the ground to slow down and lose the race.

Until Bamford is removed, he is that Jockey holding everything back. This is not personal, this is based on his horrendous job performance. It is not defendable, yet here he is still at the helm. I have other reasons not to like him either including how he has staffed his department in the last few years, but I don't need any of those to feel this way.

[dennisdent]

Coach Joe is the real deal. He isn't the skinny suit, brown shoes smooth talking BSer, or the crusty old coach who's best days in coaching were behind him. He is a true FBS football coach on the way up in his career. I give Bamford credit for getting this done, as he and us know this will either make or break his career as an FBS AD. Bamford knows that Chancellor Reyes will fire his ass, the same as they did to Brown. He has a very, very short rope left at UMass, and maybe as an AD. Pressure is good.

[Steve81]

Just watched some of the press conference. I’m curious how the program was funded during our first MAC go-round. Makes sense that going from underfunded independent to well funded conference member could turn the program around to reach a level of respectability. But if we were comparable in resources to our MAC peers the first time, that theory might not be true.

This is just my wild a$$ guesses. First the new leadership with our AD have convinced the state to support us better. The biggest pieces is being in a conference, which has a 80-20 split between football and basketball value. The new MAC media deal has been pegged at 2-2.5M. So near the high end, it is the same as the A10 media deal for UMass. Nearly 2M extra depending on the final deal. CFP will go up a million from the past. Being in an all sports conference, generates so much more in revenue streams.

Will also add there is individual and business contributions to the NIL.

[minutefanjsf]

Just watched some of the press conference. I’m curious how the program was funded during our first MAC go-round. Makes sense that going from underfunded independent to well funded conference member could turn the program around to reach a level of respectability. But if we were comparable in resources to our MAC peers the first time, that theory might not be true.

This is just my wild a$$ guesses. First the new leadership with our AD have convinced the state to support us better. The biggest pieces is being in a conference, which has a 80-20 split between football and basketball value. The new MAC media deal has been pegged at 2-2.5M. So near the high end, it is the same as the A10 media deal for UMass. Nearly 2M extra depending on the final deal. CFP will go up a million from the past. Being in an all sports conference, generates so much more in revenue streams.

Will also add there is individual and business contributions to the NIL.

The state is not supporting us better. All the new money is coming from increased conference money and private donors. Including Marty Jacobson as a key figure seemingly indicates he is bankrolling whatever is needed beyond the conference money. He seems like a pseudo owner at this point.

[dennisdent]

Just watched some of the press conference. I’m curious how the program was funded during our first MAC go-round. Makes sense that going from underfunded independent to well funded conference member could turn the program around to reach a level of respectability. But if we were comparable in resources to our MAC peers the first time, that theory might not be true.

This is just my wild a$$ guesses. First the new leadership with our AD have convinced the state to support us better. The biggest pieces is being in a conference, which has a 80-20 split between football and basketball value. The new MAC media deal has been pegged at 2-2.5M. So near the high end, it is the same as the A10 media deal for UMass. Nearly 2M extra depending on the final deal. CFP will go up a million from the past. Being in an all sports conference, generates so much more in revenue streams.

Will also add there is individual and business contributions to the NIL.

The state is not supporting us better. All the new money is coming from increased conference money and private donors. Including Marty Jacobson as a key figure seemingly indicates he is bankrolling whatever is needed beyond the conference money. He seems like a pseudo owner at this point.

Correct. UMass football has its own T. Boone Pickens in Mr. Jacobson thankfully! MAC money and increased donor money.

[stevemaz]

This is just my wild a$$ guesses. First the new leadership with our AD have convinced the state to support us better. The biggest pieces is being in a conference, which has a 80-20 split between football and basketball value. The new MAC media deal has been pegged at 2-2.5M. So near the high end, it is the same as the A10 media deal for UMass. Nearly 2M extra depending on the final deal. CFP will go up a million from the past. Being in an all sports conference, generates so much more in revenue streams.

Will also add there is individual and business contributions to the NIL.

The state is not supporting us better. All the new money is coming from increased conference money and private donors. Including Marty Jacobson as a key figure seemingly indicates he is bankrolling whatever is needed beyond the conference money. He seems like a pseudo owner at this point.

Correct. UMass football has its own T. Boone Pickens in Mr. Jacobson thankfully! MAC money and increased donor money.

Especially since we now need to find the money for another buyout. FM should be canned on Monday.. His malpractice in roster is shocking

[inthescoop]

Any guesses on who Harasymiak will bring on board to complete his coaching staff?