AMHERST — “Coach Joe” is now on the job.

Joe Harasymiak was officially introduced as UMass’ new head football coach Friday morning with a press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center.

The 38-year-old Harasymiak becomes the 32nd head coach in the Minutemen’s program history, following former head coach Don Brown’s dismissal on Nov. 18. 

Friday’s introductory press conference began with opening remarks from UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes, who dubbed him “Coach Joe,” and Athletics Director Ryan Bamford, before Harasymiak took to the podium to deliver his first public address as the Minutemen’s head coach.

Harasymiak, a native of Waldwick, New Jersey, began by thanking his wife, Brittany, his two daughters, Sophie and Ellie, and his parents — who were all in attendance — before delving into why he accepted the job at UMass. It was clear right from the jump that Harasymiak is nothing if not passionate.

“From the first moment that I sat down — and I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some of these Zooms over the last couple of years — there was passion, there was a vision that had intent and that’s what got me excited. … people that care about this place,” Harasymiak said of the UMass program.

Harasymiak spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Rutgers. Before that, he coached at Minnesota from 2016 to 2019, and at Maine from 2011 to 2018, serving as the Black Bears’ head coach for the final three years, amassing a 20-15 record and being named the FCS National Coach of the Year in 2018.

“When you meet people, people can always lie with their mouth, they can never lie with their eyes,” Harasymiak said. “I could tell in their eyes, there was nothing that was going to get in the way of myself being here and then ultimately us doing what we need to do.”

Harasymiak has ties to western Massachusetts as a former player and coach at Springfield College. Harasymiak thanked Mike DeLong, his former head coach at Springfield, as well as SC coaches Mike Cerasuolo and Jack Holik. He also thanked the numerous head coaches who he’s worked alongside while climbing the coaching ranks over the last decade.

Harasymiak proceeded to talk about his coaching philosophy — highlighted by the three focal points of belief, ownership and sacrifice — and how he plans to turn around a Minutemen football program that just wrapped up a 2-10 season.

“This has nothing to do with me, nothing,” Harasymiak said. “This will not be about me, this has nothing to do with me, this is about us. Because the issue, usually, at places that don’t have success is, you fight alone. You don’t fight together, and you always need someone to have your back.

Conversely, when everyone’s goal is the same, “Winning is the result,” he said. “That’s what everybody focuses on, the result, the down-the-line. It’s going to be about the process,” he said. “About how we go to work, and all I hear about and when I went to school I never realized it, you always talk about ‘I’m from Jersey’ and you always talk about hard-working people, there’s hard-working people [at UMass]. That’s what I learned by going to school in this state. There’s people that put their head down and they work and that’s what we’re going to need to do.”

Harasymiak finished his opening address with an anecdote about a team-working drill the Navy SEALs used to run and how he plans to implement that team-first mindset into the UMass football program.

In a separate media scrum afterward, Bamford disclosed Harasymiak’s contract is for five years, with an average annual value around $1.4 million. Harasymiak’s coaching salary pool will be about $2.7 million and his available NIL money will start at $2 million, then $3 million the following year.

UMass football will be entering the Mid-American Conference (MAC) next season after being an independent since 2015.

“I think it was really powerful for him to be a head coach early in his career,” Bamford said. “To have success [at Maine], but to also have a middle season there where I think he was 4-6, 4-7, and I think he learned a lot about himself … I think having varied experiences really helps.”

Multiple football players were seen taking in the press conference, as well as UMass women’s basketball coach Mike LeFlar. Reyes and Bamford also each thanked Brown for his tenure as head coach.

Harasymiak marks the first head football coaching hire of Reyes’ tenure as UMass chancellor, which began in 2023.

“When I took the job as chancellor of UMass Amherst, I sat down with Ryan Bamford to work on a plan, a vision for our athletics program,” Reyes said. “I was, I continue to be in full support of the vision that he has set forth and that is allowing us to take this next step in our chapter at UMass football. These efforts, this vision, this trajectory are the reasons why we can attract our new head coach.”