BAD BOY MOWERS PINSTRIPE BOWL: RUTGERS VS MIAMI

December 18, 2023

Joe Harasymiak

Yankee Stadium

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for Coach Harasymiak.

Q. Your thoughts as a young man who grew up in Waldwick to be coaching at Yankee Stadium. Your overall thoughts and excitement?

JOE HARASYMIAK: Yeah, I guess I have to start with I'm a Met fan. My grandfather was actually a ticket taker at Ebbets Field, so we're National League all the way.

It will be cool, though. I used to go with my friends, were all Yankee fans. Certainly the history there and everything that's there, so it will be a lot of fun for sure.

Q. You had five defensive starters already announce they're coming back for next year. How big is that, and what kind of role did you play in talking to them kind of about their future to make that decision?

JOE HARASYMIAK: I think it's a huge just point for the program, where we're headed. I think when good things are going on, you have a great environment, everybody wants to come back. That's credit to Coach Schiano. I didn't really have anything to do with that. I certainly will answer questions if they ask and give them my opinion.

But I think those guys are smart enough where it didn't really get to that point. They had conversations with Coach Schiano. And I'm certainly happy that they're coming back, and I think it bodes well for the future.

I think it speaks volumes to what we have going on here with the kind of culture we have and everything kind of staying on the rise. I'm super excited about it.

Q. Just your thoughts about this unit overall this year, especially up front, defensive line. You guys have been, again, one of the top in the nation. Just your thoughts about how well this group has gelled this year. And what does it say about the development of these players this year, how they bought in?

JOE HARASYMIAK: I this I going from year one to year two, Coach talks about kind of like Game 1 to Game 2, that being your biggest stride. Certainly getting a lot of people back, a lot of experience came back. Especially up front. That allowed us just to kind of keep progressing and taking the next step.

I think Big Ten football experiences is key. We had a lot of guys that had the thousandth snap club, which we kind of talk about. We have a lot of guys that are in that.

When you get into those situations that we ran into this year, I think we're more experienced, and it doesn't surprise us as much as more on the field.

I would say the experience helped us out. It always starts up front. I joke with everybody that's not the Little Ten. It's the Big Ten. Our D-line has paved the way for us stopping the run and creating opportunities in the pass game.

It starts with them. Credit to the coaches that helped them with that.

We have one more here that we have to get after the quarterback and get after the run game, so I'm looking forward to that.

Q. I'm glad you're moving on to some great teams in the Big Ten. Talk about Miami. What do you see in the Miami, their offense? I know they don't have a great quarterback. They had a transfer to Wisconsin. You'll probably see him next year. What do you see in their quarterbacks?

JOE HARASYMIAK: As an outfit they're extremely well-coached. I think the O-line is one of the better coached groups that we're going to go against.

Then certainly they're extremely explosive. I think they're up there with -- of the teams we played, I think up close to Maryland in terms of explosive plays over the year.

For the quarterback position, obviously the two guys that have been around and played this year aren't going to be there, but certainly the guy that is expected to start has a lot of talent. Reminds me of some of the guys that we played this year.

So we're going to have to be ready. They're going to want to establish the run, and it always kind of ends up with establishing the run offensively and stopping the run defensively, and then the game plan kind of goes from there. They're extremely talented. We'll have a challenge on our hands, so --

Q. I know I mentioned back in the CAA back when you were a Coach at Maine, what did you learn from that trip being a head coach to where you are today?

JOE HARASYMIAK: Probably the most just about managing people. In Maine you're hands-on everything. There's probably about ten Maine staffs here that make up one Rutgers staff. You have to have your hand on everything.

That just taught me time management and the management of people. Because I think it always comes down to the people. That's probably what I learned most up there.

Q. A couple of things. Reportedly you were a finalist, a candidate for the James Madison head coaching job. Obviously you've since signed a contract extension with Rutgers. I'm wondering if, A, can you confirm if you interviewed with them, and, B, why did you ultimately decide to extend your contract with Rutgers?

JOE HARASYMIAK: I think the way I'll answer that is being a head coach was a great opportunity for me when I was young. I was 29, and I got that chance. But on the second part of your question, I think for me I believe in this place. I believe in the people that run it. Coach Schiano especially. I believe in the people we have.

Every decision I've ever made in my coaching career when me and my wife started this whole adventure was we were going to make a decision based on the people, and if we do that, we should put ours in a good situation. I believe we have a great situation here.

I'm excited that I was given the opportunity obviously to sign that, and I'm excited about this game and being where my feet are and doing those kinds of things. I'm just grateful that Coach Schiano gave me the opportunity.

Q. I was going to ask the same exact thing, but in a little different way. Similarly, can you just say that if you were a candidate for that James Madison job? I wasn't sure if you answered that directly.

JOE HARASYMIAK: Listen, I'm the defensive coordinator at Rutgers, and I'm really excited to be the defensive coordinator at Rutgers. My job is to stop Miami, so that's what we're going to do.

Q. Aaron Lewis said a couple of weeks ago that he felt like he didn't play up to his capability level this season, that he feels like there's more for him production-wise going into next year, and that really was a big reason why he decided to come back. What have you seen from him this season, and what steps do you want him to continue to take going into 2024?

JOE HARASYMIAK: You said A. Lew?

Q. Yeah.

JOE HARASYMIAK: Certainly I think we all have expectations, right, and anyone that's competitive you never live up to them. You always want to do better.

That's him being probably a little bit harder on himself because everybody looks at production, but I actually watch the tape. I know that at times he wanted to play better, and I know there's a lot of things that offenses do because he's so productive, and we have to do a better job around him. I have to do a better job putting him in situations to be successful. I know we'll do that certainly now that we've had a little bit more time to self-scout and study over the first 12 games.

I wouldn't expect him to think any differently. He's the heart and soul of what we do. When he plays hard, we play hard. When he is vocal and leading, everybody kind of follows.

I'm super excited to have him back. He's a guy that could have went. A lot of guys could have went, but I think, again, everybody believes in this place, and that's powerful because you have to have a belief in what you do because if you don't, you don't have any shot.

I'm proud of him. It hasn't been the easiest of years from many standpoints, and he kept fighting, and I know he is going to show up in the bowl game.

Q. As far as the impact of Mohamed Toure as well as Aaron Lewis, can you talk about the importance of those two guys on your defense, especially going into this bowl game? And from a personal standpoint, I hear you mention that you're a Mets fan. They've had their fair share of wins at Yankee Stadium. What are some of your favorite memories of Mets games at Yankee Stadium?

JOE HARASYMIAK: More important question. Mo and A. Lew, you feel them when they play. I tell the defense all the time they should be able to turn on the coach's tape and see how hard we play. When there's no noise, how hard do you look?

Like today they were fresh. Our practice today was legit. They were getting after it. That was really good to see. We kind of -- your best players set the tone, and when they're kind of down or they're not feeling well, you feel it. The best way I can describe is I always feel them. I'm looking forward to that.

You know, for me it would just be we used to have a couple of season tickets at Shea Stadium and used to sit in the left. My dad worked in the city, so we would rotate between my brothers who would go out and kind of meet him there on the subway at the 7 train.

Just being there with my dad and just experiencing that and being fortunate enough to have that opportunity.

Then I would probably say the greatest memory? I was at the Robin Ventura walk-off Braves grand, I guess, single in the rain when I was a younger kid. So probably something like that was pretty cool.

Q. Joe, you guys have improved each year as a defense since you've been here. To do it in year three to have so many guys back, how much of that compounding coaching of these guys all this time together, how much do you think that will help? I guess what do you see as the ceiling for this team, for this defense? How good could it be?

JOE HARASYMIAK: I think just looking at this year, like year one to year two, we have a lot of those same guys back. I also think it speaks to Coach Schiano about keeping the staff. I mean, I think that's incredibly hard nowadays in college football.

Credit to him and credit to the administration for allowing us to do what we need to do to keep everybody here.

Right now I'll get excited about your three after we go win a game. I've got to catch myself thinking about it for sure because I am excited because everybody is back, and everybody is posting every other day. I don't know why we just can't say we're back, and we have to do this, but I get it.

I'm excited, man. I'm excited about right now them being back and being where my feet are and going to attack this game. Being back with them today really in our first bowl prep practice was awesome. Getting off to the road recruiting, it's not the same as coming back and forth and doing all this stuff, so I'm super excited about right now.

Q. What has stood out to you about this group since the summer and what they've done for you all year long?

JOE HARASYMIAK: I think probably not -- what I've noticed is just when you are on a good team, you have a good culture. And I think when I first got here, I was learning it. And anytime you take a new job, you feel your way through things, but fortunately for me, I came into a culture that I kind of had already been a part of because I worked for someone that worked for Coach.

I kind of knew what that was all about, but the standard and the expectation that's here holds you to an even higher level. It's just says the buy-in is incredible. That's how I would answer that.

It's just anything you ask them to do, they're going to do. That's not always like that everywhere. It's a credit to how Coach runs it, a credit to the belief they have in us as coaches. And, again, I think it goes back to when Coach talks about the pipeline, recruiting and the years that comes with that.

When you get people in year four, year five that are in this building, they're all here for one reason. That's for each other. Then when that happens, that's when the wins start to happen and all the great things start to happen.

So we're kind of in that ascension right now, and I truly believe in it. I think that's the biggest thing for me that I've seen in this maturation process. No one here doesn't believe in it. If there are, they're hiding it pretty well because it's pretty hard to hide in this culture.

I'm just appreciative of all they do and how hard they work and, ultimately, that I get the opportunity to be with them every day.

Q. You guys have had a lot of success in bringing transfers on the defense and them having immediate success at Rutgers developing. Guys like Flip Dixon, Mayan, and the list goes on. When you are recruiting guys now out of the portal, is that a benefit for you guys to say, hey, we've brought guys here, they've done really well, you could be the next guy to do that?

JOE HARASYMIAK: Yeah, I think that speaks to, first of all, with what you're saying. The recruiting department does a great job identifying talented players, but then what we do such a good job of here and it comes from, again, the top-down is we really invest in getting to know you.

Coach talks about if you don't love football, this ain't the place for you. So those two guys just speaking about Eric and Flip, those are the two guys that have the biggest impact. They love football, like Isaiah Iton loves football. That was the number one thing we kind of look for.

Whatever that ends up being in the future with whoever we end up recruiting, that's the number one thing for me. Do you love it? Because nowadays everything that goes into recruiting you kind of sometimes lose sight of that, and you can get caught off guard as a coach.

I think that's what we really did a great job with last year is just coming together as a staff and identifying who loved it.