ORONO, Maine — Aside from the age of its new head coach, the most talked about aspect of the University of Maine football team in the wake of the recent coaching change has been its offense.
In recent years, while trying to develop young quarterbacks, the Black Bears have maintained a conservative approach in spite of their modern spread scheme.
First-year head coach Joe Harasymiak, 29, said fans can expect a more multifaceted offense next fall.
“I think we need to do a better job challenging teams horizontally with ‘jet’ sweeps, outside sweeps and then vertically in the passing game, throwing the ball downfield, taking shots [at the end zone] and running the ball,” Harasymiak said Monday as UMaine prepares to welcome its first group of recruits for a campus visit beginning Saturday.
During his two seasons as the Black Bears’ defensive coordinator, Harasymiak and his staff were most often challenged by offenses that not only had a good run-pass balance but were willing to give them other dynamics about which to think.
“I think the use of [multiple] formations will be key,” he said. “When we struggled, it was against teams that come to the line, adjust, show unbalanced formations.”
Harasymiak even mentioned archrival New Hampshire, which consistently has demonstrated a knack for giving defenses a lot to prepare for and a willingness to throw in new wrinkles to keep opponents guessing.
“You’ve got to move guys around, use ‘wildcat’ stuff, that kind of thing, with your best player; [use] trick plays — that type of stuff that UNH does to us,” he said, pointing out that UMaine held the Wildcats to 22 points and 286 total yards in their 2015 meeting and 287 yards and 20 points in 2014.
Conversely, the Black Bear offense had difficulty moving the ball and scoring consistently. UMaine ranked 108th among 123 Football Championship Subdivision teams last fall in red zone offense, scoring 69.7 percent of the time.
The Bears were No. 107 in scoring (14.9 points per game), 105th in rushing (115.4 yards per game) and 102nd in yards per completion (10.66 ypc).
In fact, UMaine only cracked the top 50 percent among FCS teams in three offensive categories: sacks allowed (44th, 1.64 per game), passes intercepted (54th, 10) and passing offense (57th, 206.4 ypg).
Harasymiak said everything starts with the ground attack.
“The first thing I’m going to want to do is run the ball,” he said. “I’m not saying we’ve got to line up like Stony Brook does — two tight ends, two running backs — but there’s ways to run the ball effectively.”
However, the exact nature of UMaine’s offensive plans will remain theoretical until a new offensive coordinator is on board.
Kevin Bourgoin, a 15-year member of the Black Bears staff who for nine seasons served as the offensive coordinator, remains under contract but is not expected to stay at UMaine.
Harasymiak said he is working on assembling a staff — one that is expected to include some members of the current group — but won’t provide any details until the hiring process is complete.
“All I’ll say to that is that I want someone who can be a great leader,” he said. “The coordinator spots are basically like my co-pilots. They have to believe in what we want to do and then they have to go teach.
“There’s also a fit with coaches in terms of what kind of system you’re looking to use and how they fit,” Harasymiak added.
Even though Harasymiak, a former Springfield College cornerback, has spent most of his first eight seasons on the defensive side of the ball, he believes that perspective can be helpful in formulating an offensive philosophy.
UMaine will return two seasoned quarterbacks in Dan Collins and Drew Belcher, and a blossoming group of wide receivers led by Micah Wright, Jordan Dunn, Jared Osumah and Jaleel Reed likely will give opponents an entirely new look.
The Black Bears also lose only two offensive linemen because of graduation and expect to return tailbacks Nigel Beckford and Darian Davis-Ray.
“If you were to look on paper right now, you’d say our wideouts are really good in terms of who’s coming back,” Harasymiak said. “We have to be able to use them, as well as develop the running game and stay healthy.
“It’s going to be something new for the guys and any time there’s new blood, you need to learn and go from there and use the personnel the right way,” he added.
Harasymiak explained he plans to utilize the best of former head coach Jack Cosgrove’s building blocks for the program while introducing new ideas from a different perspective.
Cosgrove’s mantra included the three Ps: prepare, present and perform, which translated to the student-athletes’ efforts on the football field, in the classroom and in the community.
“There’s structure here that Cos has in place that works and that’s who Maine is,” Harasymiak said. “We’ll tweak some of the things that maybe a younger eye would tend to see and how kids relate to certain things.”