Joe Harasymiak
In his own words
We didn’t want to go three-and-out there
Great call on the rail route to [Faulkner] to score
Certainly, those running backs are special
The whole night in general we talked about the moment a lot
Obviously, [Watson III] is one
And now we really got to figure out over this next week who’s going to go in the game if they have to with the twos.
So now is like the grind, like the dog days of camp. So our drills have taken over into that
We’ve added a lot of drills in that we did not do last year. Multiple inside runs, we’re doing pods almost every day, one-on-one pass rush, team run stuff, so we’re trying to magnify that as much as we can.
I think [the defensive line is] going to be above average… in terms of [Mid-American Conference] play.
Like when I stand back there, and we rush, we have a chance to be great, but I think we’re going to start there.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
7th-best Massachusetts tenure of 7 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Don Brown (2022–2024).
| Season | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||
| Record | 0–12 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #136 | #116 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||
| Pass rate | 54.1 | 35.0 | |
| Coordinators | |||
| OC | Mike Bajakian | Max Warner | |
| DC | Jared Keyte | Jared Keyte | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||
| Offense | 1 | 88 | |
| Defense | 2 | 57 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||
| 1st-down pass% | 45.6 | 30.8 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 51.9 | 14.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 33.3 | — | |
A portal-built roster.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits younger transfers than most — more of a development bet.
AI Narratives — “Massachusetts — stat check”.
Joe Harasymiak
Defensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.