ORONO, Maine — Joe Harasymiak spent his first four years selling a select number of recruits in northern and central New Jersey on the University of Maine football program.
Since being named the head coach on Dec. 16, 2015, his role in the process has changed.
“I joke with the guys that I’m the ‘closer’ now,” said Harasymiak, who obviously isn’t referring to baseball or his beloved New York Mets.
“I’ve got to come in and seal the deal,” he said.
Harasymiak wasted no time in stepping into the closer role as he was making home visits with recruits the day his appointment was announced. He made nine such contacts during a four-day period.
“I really got in there, because we thought it was important to get some structure behind that [recruiting] process,” he said.
This is a critical recruiting time for Division I football programs. Last weekend, UMaine entertained its first group of potential future Black Bears for their NCAA official visits to the Orono campus.
More are planned next weekend.
Former head coach Jack Cosgrove always said that if UMaine could get recruits to visit the campus and meet its student-athletes, coaches, professors and support staff, that often sealed the deal in getting a commitment.
Harasymiak has discovered that being the head coach during the recruiting process requires him to be in the know on just about everything UMaine and Black Bears football.
“As the head coach, you’ve got to talk about the environment around it, what the scholarship entails, academic programs,” he said. “You’ve got to be in the know on everything, and you have to gear your talk toward what you think Maine is all about.”
Harasymiak continues to field questions about his age. At 29, he’s only 10 or 11 years older than most recruits.
“I think that’s a good thing,” he said. “As you look around, a lot of the [head] coaches are getting a little bit younger. There’s been a lot of hires.”
Harasymiak has spoken with recently hired Fordham coach Andrew Breiner, 31, and has exchanged messages with 34-year-old Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck.
At the same time, Harasymiak knows he can look into recruits’ eyes with a different perspective in terms of what being a college student-athlete is all about.
“We’re just trying to get kids and parents excited about being part of something new,” he said. “We’re preaching the fact that there’s been a change, that there’s going to be new things going on, [and] that it’s an exciting time to be a part of Maine football.”
Another aspect of the youth movement has been the ability to follow recruits on social media sites such as Twitter.
“You’re able to stay up to date with everything that’s going on with that recruit, especially a guy that puts out Tweets about what he’s doing, where he’s going,” Harasymiak said.
Social media also gives UMaine football an opportunity to promote itself and the school. Harasymiak recently posted a photo on Twitter showing improvements to the Latti Fitness Center, where Black Bear athletes lift weights and train.
“If you don’t visit here, you want to know what it looks like,” Harasymiak said.
Other Tweets have shown mannequins dressed in UMaine home and away uniforms and wished good luck to former Black Bears Mike DeVito of Kansas City and Justin Perillo of Green Bay before their NFL playoff games last weekend.
UMaine’s campus visits also invariably coincide with cold, snowy, winter weather. You’d better believe recruits, most of whom have never been to the state or lived in the northern U.S., ask about that dynamic.
“We have the bubble [Mahaney Dome], which works perfect for us,” Harasymiak said. “It’s huge for us because we’ll warm up in there and do a lot of other things in there.”
Harasymiak said UMaine also benefits from showing off its rural campus, featuring brick buildings with ivy climbing the walls, along with the town of Orono and Greater Bangor.
“It’s different than where a lot of our recruits come from,” Harasymiak said. “It’s a real eye-opener for them in terms of where they can see themselves being for the next four or five years.”
Harasymiak is still deciding how to decorate his office in the football wing of the Alumni Gym complex. He already has a football helmet from his alma mater, Springfield College, and a few of Cosgrove’s photos remain on the walls.
He said aside from the furniture, Cosgrove bequeathed him some reading material.
“He left me all the recruiting manuals and the referee books on the rules,” said Harasymiak, who already knows one former Black Bear who will be included among the new photos.
“The one guy I’m putting in here is Trevor Bates,” he said of UMaine’s standout defensive end, who is in Florida training for a shot at making an NFL roster. “He’s going to be my guy.”
The first day of the National Letter of Intent signing period for football is Feb. 3.