Ex-Gophers defensive coach reportedly hired as head coach at UMass

Harasymiak was the safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator at Minnesota from 2019 to 2021.

Defensive coordinator Joe Harasymiak observes warm up exercises before Rutgers University football spring practice at Marco Battaglia Practice Complex in Piscataway, NJ Tuesday April 11, 2023. Ru02 / Tanya Breen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Remember the name: Joe Harasymiak.

Sound familiar? He was on P.J. Fleck's coaching staff with the Gophers from 2019 to 2021 and he's now reportedly been hired as the new head coach at the University of Massachusetts, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Harasymiak heads to UMass after spending the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Rutgers.

Under Fleck, Harasymiak was the safeties coach in 2019 and then the co-defensive coordinator with joe Rossi in 2020 and 2021. He was coaching safeties at the University of Minnesota and helped mentor Antoine Winfield Jr., Jordan Howden and Tyler Nubin, who are all now playing in the NFL.

This isn't his first opportunity as a head coach. From 2015 to 2018, he was the head coach of the Maine Black Bears. When he assumed the head coaching role on Nov. 24, 2015, he became the youngest Division I head coach in the nation at just 30 years old.

Maine went 6-5 in Harasymiak's first full year in charge and fell back to a 4-6 year in 2017. In 2018, he guided the Black Bears to a 10-4 record and the Colonial Athletic Association championship. That team reached the FCS national semifinals and lost to Eastern Washington, who then lost to perennial power North Dakota State in the national championship game.

Harasymiak was selected as the FCS coach of the year in 2018.

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