Gophers Hire former Maine Head Coach Joe Harasymiak to be on-field Assistant

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https://sports.yahoo.com/source-ma...eaving-assistant-job-minnesota-154431377.html

“After leading Maine to its best season in program history, Joe Harasymiak has landed a Power Five job.

A source told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel that Harasymiak, who has spent the past eight seasons at Maine, including the last three as head coach, is headed to Minnesota as an on-field assistant under P.J. Fleck.

After going 10-11 in his first two seasons as head coach, the 32-year-old Harasymiak guided the Black Bears to 10 wins, a Colonial Athletic Association title and to the FCS semifinals, the furthest the program has ever advanced in the FCS playoffs, in 2018. As the No. 7 seed, Maine beat Jacksonville State at home and then upset No. 3 Weber State on the road to advance to the semifinals, where it fell 50-19 on the red turf at No. 4 Eastern Washington.

The Black Bears won the CAA championship after being picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll. For his efforts, Harasymiak was named the AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year.

When promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in December 2015, Harasymiak was the youngest head coach in Division I. At that time, he signed a five-year deal through June 2020. According to the Bangor Daily News, Harasymiak made $153,000 annually at Maine and was the lowest-paid head coach in the CAA.

At Minnesota, he is likely in line for a sizable raise. Fleck was looking for a new assistant to add to his staff after defensive coordinator Robb Smith was fired mid-season. Harasymiak will fill a role on the defensive staff.

Minnesota is 6-6 in Fleck’s second season as head coach. The Gophers will face Georgia Tech in the Quick Lane Bowl on Wednesday.”
 

Seems like a good hire.
 

https://sports.yahoo.com/source-ma...eaving-assistant-job-minnesota-154431377.html

“After leading Maine to its best season in program history, Joe Harasymiak has landed a Power Five job.

A source told Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel that Harasymiak, who has spent the past eight seasons at Maine, including the last three as head coach, is headed to Minnesota as an on-field assistant under P.J. Fleck.

After going 10-11 in his first two seasons as head coach, the 32-year-old Harasymiak guided the Black Bears to 10 wins, a Colonial Athletic Association title and to the FCS semifinals, the furthest the program has ever advanced in the FCS playoffs, in 2018. As the No. 7 seed, Maine beat Jacksonville State at home and then upset No. 3 Weber State on the road to advance to the semifinals, where it fell 50-19 on the red turf at No. 4 Eastern Washington.

The Black Bears won the CAA championship after being picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll. For his efforts, Harasymiak was named the AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year.

When promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach in December 2015, Harasymiak was the youngest head coach in Division I. At that time, he signed a five-year deal through June 2020. According to the Bangor Daily News, Harasymiak made $153,000 annually at Maine and was the lowest-paid head coach in the CAA.

At Minnesota, he is likely in line for a sizable raise. Fleck was looking for a new assistant to add to his staff after defensive coordinator Robb Smith was fired mid-season. Harasymiak will fill a role on the defensive staff.

Minnesota is 6-6 in Fleck’s second season as head coach. The Gophers will face Georgia Tech in the Quick Lane Bowl on Wednesday.”

It's very surprising that an FCS head coach (particularly one who just took his team to the national semifinals) can't do better than an FBS position coach role. Kirk Ferentz left Maine (with far less success than Harasymiak) to be an NFL OL coach. Chris Klieman has obviously been wildly successful, but he's going to a Power 5 head coaching job.

Based on his experience and our current personnel, it appears that Harasymiak will be the LB coach.
 

on-field Assistant

That title could be anything:

waterboy%2Bheader.jpg
 

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Go Gophers!!
 


I watched the game. Can’t say I was overly impressed with Maine-particularly their defense. My hope was that they hire someone with great recruiting connections. (I am sure DPO will come back and ask me how do I know that the hire doesn’t have such connections?). And he is correct, I don’t know. But really, how many good football players come from Maine? Would have made more sense to hire someone from Florida or Texas. But then I have faith in PJ. Just hope this isn’t another Robb Smith hire.
 

His team gave up 50 in their final game...sounds right&#55357;&#56841;
 

It's very surprising that an FCS head coach (particularly one who just took his team to the national semifinals) can't do better than an FBS position coach role. Kirk Ferentz left Maine (with far less success than Harasymiak) to be an NFL OL coach. Chris Klieman has obviously been wildly successful, but he's going to a Power 5 head coaching job.

Based on his experience and our current personnel, it appears that Harasymiak will be the LB coach.

Pretty sure he has a previous relationship with Rossi and that factored into the decision to take this job.
 

He was the lowest paid head coach in FCS.

Edit: I misread the tweet. He was the lowest paid coach in his FCS conference.

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Hopefully a good hire. I would think Rossi realizes that if the defense doesn't produce good results he is gone. In a sense I'm not worried about Maine's last game. I don't know what the injury status was like etc for the defense. I would also think that Fleck warned Rossi that he needs a good "hire" to keep improving the defense.
 

Eastern Washington annually put up numbers like it’s nothing. So I’m not too worried about it. Can’t help but be excited about signing a young up and coming HC to simply coach a position. He should be a good hire and you can’t have enough guys with HC experience.


Edit: should also add Maine had to fly across country two weeks in the FCS playoffs including for that game.
 
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It says on-field assistant, are we assuming he'll be helping with the defense? Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, but we still haven't hired a coach to fill the open position now that Rossi is DC right? What position coach is it likely that we hire? Are we expecting to hear about the hire after the bowl season?
 



It says on-field assistant, are we assuming he'll be helping with the defense? Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, but we still haven't hired a coach to fill the open position now that Rossi is DC right? What position coach is it likely that we hire? Are we expecting to hear about the hire after the bowl season?

This sounds like the hire to fill that coaching spot.
 

per Randy:

Joe Harasymiak was seen as a head coach on the rise this season at Maine, leading the Black Bears to the FCS semifinals for the first time. Now, he is heading to Minnesota, joining P.J. Fleck’s staff as a defensive assistant.

Harasymiak, 32, is leaving Maine to become an assistant for the Gophers, filling the position that opened when Fleck fired former defensive coordinator Robb Smith.

Joe Rossi took over as interim defensive coordinator for the final three games, and Fleck announced that he was removing the interim label after the Wisconsin victory.

Rossi said coach P.J. Fleck will determine what title Harasymiak will have with the Gophers, but he was a defensive assistant and coordinator for Maine before becoming the Black Bears head coach after the 2015 season. Then 29, Harasymiak was the youngest coach in Division I football.

Maine went 6-5, 4-6 and 10-4 in his three seasons. The Black Bears lost 50-19 to Eastern Washington in the FCS semifinals on Saturday.

Rossi, who was Maine’s defensive coordinator from 2009-11, worked with Harasymiak, who began as a restricted-earnings coach for the Black Bears in 2011.

“We had a full-time guy leave, and we promoted him,’’ Rossi said. “… I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s an elite coach, an elite person — high energy, able to connect with the players. Just an impressive, impressive coach.’’

http://www.startribune.com/p-j-flec...ach-joe-harasymiak-as-an-assistant/503243841/

Go Gophers!!
 

This sounds like the hire to fill that coaching spot.

So do they just not know where they want to put him yet? or would there be another reason to not say which position coach he'll be if he indeed is going to fill that spot?

EDIT: Bleed posted right before me, strib article clears up the confusion I had around if this was filling the open slot, still no word on which position though.
 

never heard of him, but if we can get a guy with HC experience as a position coach, I like it
 

His team gave up 50 in their final game...sounds right&#55357;&#56841;

He led a team picked 8th in their league to the semifinals. Why you have to deride him for the team's final performance? You're going to see teams in the college football championship semifinals give up 50 as well. EWU has a history of having prolific offenses so I wouldn't make much out of that by itself.


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Everyone has to follow their own path.

On the surface, it's a little odd to see an apparent young up-and-comer go from being an FCS head coach, to taking a position coach job at FBS level. I could see if it was a coordinator job, but being a position coach seems like a step back.

On the other hand, it's an opportunity to establish himself at a higher level. And, it does appear that it will bring a higher salary. Plus, he's young enough that he still has plenty of time if his ultimate goal is to be a head coach at FBS.

So, (what a surprise), I can see both sides of the situation.
 

Smart move by Rossi to get one of his guys to help him. Hope it works out.
 

The only concern would be limited recruiting ties. Maine is not a football hotbed.
 


But really, how many good football players come from Maine? Would have made more sense to hire someone from Florida or Texas.

Yup, because they only recruit Maine. Just like PJ only can recruit Minnesota cause he's the coach there.

He's from Jersey originally, I'm going to guess he has ties to NJ, PA and NY
 

Lots of NJ, NY, MD, MA players on the Maine roster.
 

U of MN press release ->

Fleck Adds Joe Harasymiak To Coaching Staff

Photo attached courtesy of University of Maine.

University of Minnesota football coach P.J. Fleck announced today the hiring of Joe Harasymiak. The 32-year-old will join the Minnesota coaching staff prior to the Quick Lane Bowl and will work on the defensive side of the ball.

Harasymiak comes to Minnesota from Maine, where he served as head coach since 2016. He guided the Black Bears to an overall record of 20-15 and a 15-9 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association.

This year, he led the Black Bears to a 10-4 overall record, a 7-1 conference mark and a CAA championship. This year, Maine advanced to its first Football Championship Subdivision national semifinal appearance in school history under his guidance.

Harasymiak has spent nearly his entire coaching career at Maine. He was a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach in 2011 and then coached the defensive backs from 2012-13. He was then promoted to defensive coordinator and coached the linebackers from 2014-15. Harasymiak was named interim head coach in November 2015 and then assumed head coaching duties in January 2016.

Prior to his time at Maine, he served as a graduate assistant coach with the wide receivers and quarterbacks at his alma mater, Springfield College. He was then an assistant coach at Maine Maritime Academy in 2008.

Harasymiak earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from Springfield College in 2008 and palyed for the Pride from 2004-07. He served as team captain in 2007.

Harasymiak worked with Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi at Maine. Rossi was at Maine from 2007-11 and was the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach for the Bears from 2009-11.
 

He was then an assistant coach at Maine Maritime Academy in 2008.

there is definitely a "row the boat" joke in there somewhere.
 

The only concern would be limited recruiting ties. Maine is not a football hotbed.

My God, recruiting isn't by horse and buggy! He will recruit New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, all places he got players from in the past.
 

It's very surprising that an FCS head coach (particularly one who just took his team to the national semifinals) can't do better than an FBS position coach role. Kirk Ferentz left Maine (with far less success than Harasymiak) to be an NFL OL coach. Chris Klieman has obviously been wildly successful, but he's going to a Power 5 head coaching job.

Based on his experience and our current personnel, it appears that Harasymiak will be the LB coach.

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but would suspect Klieman to K-State is a vast, vast ... maybe a lone .... outlier. There is very much a ladder, to be head coach, and if you want to be a P5 head coach, usually you need to be head coach at a G5 school.

Kliman got hired purely because Gene Taylor was hired as K-State AD, and Taylor feels like sticking his neck out on this.
 

Everyone has to follow their own path.

On the surface, it's a little odd to see an apparent young up-and-comer go from being an FCS head coach, to taking a position coach job at FBS level. I could see if it was a coordinator job, but being a position coach seems like a step back.

On the other hand, it's an opportunity to establish himself at a higher level. And, it does appear that it will bring a higher salary. Plus, he's young enough that he still has plenty of time if his ultimate goal is to be a head coach at FBS.

So, (what a surprise), I can see both sides of the situation.

They were predicted to suck, and word has it Maine doesn't spend much money on football so ... probabbly going to return to that level... not a long term stop type of place I don't think.
 

He led a team picked 8th in their league to the semifinals. Why you have to deride him for the team's final performance? You're going to see teams in the college football championship semifinals give up 50 as well. EWU has a history of having prolific offenses so I wouldn't make much out of that by itself.

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My sarcastic rolling eye emoji didn’t translate to the thread...
 




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