University of Massachusetts-Amherst Football

Holfoth joined the Massachusetts football program in April 2025 as the Director of High School Recruiting. Prior to UMass, he was a sales representative with FirstDown PlayBook (2024-25) and also served in a recruiting quality control role with the Syracuse football program (2023-24). At FirstDown PlayBook, Holfoth collaborated with high school, college and youth coaches, delivering comprehensive onboarding and staff demonstrations to help maximize coaching efficiency. He was responsible for creating visual content for marketing campaigns, managing the sales software database and serving as the primary point of contact for the Atlantic and West Coast user base during the football season. While at Syracuse, Holfoth served as the interim director of recruiting operations during a coaching transition, overseeing the planning and execution of 50+ official visits and multiple junior days. He developed a system to proactively identify top transfer portal prospects to enhance recruiting efficiency and managed communication with high school recruits and coaches across the Northeast, particularly in New York, New Jersey and New England. Additionally, he handled the Commit2Cuse Twitter account to engage recruits and distribute recruiting materials and maintained the ARMS recruiting database with up-to-date information. A graduate of St. John's University, Holfoth also has experience with Prep Redzone (Regional Scout), Pro Football Focus (Data Collection Analyst) and is a former WSJU Ra

Daniel Benedict was named the Director of Football Video Operations for the University of Massachusetts football program in early 2026. Benedict joined the staff after spending a year as a videographer for Realtime Media in Pensacola, Florida. Prior to his time at Realtime Media, where he filmed and edited high-pressure court depositions and coordinated with legal teams, Benedict was the assistant video coordinator for the Texas A&M football program for the 2024 season. With Texas A&M, Benedict led the department in interfacing with Catapult technicians on the Focus app with updates weekly, filmed and edited all games, practices and work outs for the coaching staff and mentored 11 videographers to help with the filming of practices and games. He also coordinated with live network televisions and video coordinators of the opposing teams, directed an 8K walk-through wall simulator room, oversaw all road game meetings and summer camps, obtained and edited FCS, FBS and NFL film, by offense and defense and arranged with player personnel on how film would be cut and edited. Benedict previously spent three years at Georgia Southern as the football program's Director of Football Video. In addition to managing the filming of all practices, games, Pro Days, he helped supervised various programs such as RICOH, Catapult Thunder (XOS), PFF, NFL, and the IT department of the University. Benedict also utilized and gained experience with PTZ cameras, and governed and secured funding for stud

Alma Mater: Western Michigan '15 Season at Massachusetts: First Donald Celiscar comes to Amherst with 10 years of college football experience as both a coach...

Alma Mater: Cambridge College '00; Maine '00 Season at Massachusetts: First Garrett Gillick joins the UMass football staff in January 2025 as the linebackers...

George Greene has been named the Director of High Performance/Head Football Sports Performance Coach by Head Coach Joe Harasymiak. Greene joins UMass after spending nine transformative years at Stony Brook University, where he served as Senior Associate Athletics Director of High Performance and Competitive Success. At Stony Brook, Greene oversaw all aspects of athletic performance, performance nutrition and sports science, working extensively with the football and men's basketball teams. He supervised and mentored a multidisciplinary team of staff and coaches to serve over 500 student-athletes. Prior to Stony Brook, Greene spent two years as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Mary Washington, where he was the first strength and conditioning coach in school history. Before his time at UMW, Greene was a Tactical Strength and Conditioning Specialist for the U.S. Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in 2014, where he received an Excellence Award for delivering exceptional service. Greene served as the Assistant Director of Strength and Conditioning at UMass from 2010 to 2014 and spent 2008-09 as the Strength and Conditioning Assistant with the UMass football program. During his career, Greene has worked with several All-Americans, numerous all-conference selections and multiple athletes who have signed professional contracts. Greene earned his bachelor's degree in applied exercise science from Springfield College in 2008 and his master's in health

Ibn Foster joins the Massachusetts football program as an assistant strength & conditioning coach, after previously spending time at UAlbany as the assistant strength & conditioning coach for men's basketball, volleyball and track and field. Prior to UAlbany, Foster served as the assistant strength & conditioning coach at Central Michigan, working football, men's basketball, women's soccer, baseball and cross country in 2023. Foster also was a graduate assistant coach at Stony Brook from 2022 to 2023. There, he worked as the head softball strength coach for the fall offseason in addition to serving as an assistant coach for football and men's basketball. Foster was also the nutrition coordinator for the entire Stony Brook athletics department. A 2020 UAlbany graduate, Foster was a defensive lineman for the Great Danes football team and captain during his time. Foster is an NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), Certified Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA) and CPR/AED certified from the American Heart Association.

Fire joined the Massachusetts Athletics department as an analyst for the football team in the spring 2024. Before joining the UMass football staff, Fire work...

Alma Mater: Utica '12 Season at Massachusetts: First Jared Keyte comes to Amherst in January 2025 after spending the past two seasons on Joe Harasymiak’s staff at Rutgers, serving as the nickels coach for the 2024 season and as the defensive quality control/interim defensive line coach in 2023. Keyte also coached at the University of Maine from 2016-22, most recently serving as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach in 2022. While with Maine, Keyte helped coach 10 All-CAA Conference players and two All-Americans. With the Black Bears under Harasymiak, Keyte was the outside linebackers coach (2016-18). He helped Maine to the 2018 CAA Championship with a 7-1 conference record. Maine then advanced to the first Football Championship Subdivision national semifinal game in program history and finished the year with a 10-4 overall record. Keyte assisted in coaching the No. 1 rush defense in the FCS during Maine's CAA Championshio and final four run. At Maine, Keyte spent time as the special teams coordinator (2018-21) and also served as the safeties coach (2019-21). As the program’s special team’s coordinator in 2021, Keyte helped the Black Bears’ special teams unit to numerous top rankings, both in the conference and nationally. Maine led the CAA and ranked third nationally in blocked kicks, ranked second in the CAA and fifth nationally in kickoff return average and checked in at third in the conference in punt coverage. In 2018, Keyte directed and implemented all phases o

Jared Osumah will serve as the General Manager for Massachusetts football, after spending three seasons with the New York Giants organization as a scouting assistant. Osumah was responsible for conducting live evaluations of NFL prospects across universities in the Northeast and Midwest regions for the Giants, while preparing detailed reports summarizing scouting evaluations, roster analyses and potential acquisition strategies. He also maintained the scouting databases to track player performance metrics, organized records of player data, including scouting grades, and conducted background research on players. Before his time in the NFL, Osumah spent five months at Rutgers as an assistant director of recruiting. With the Scarlet Knights, he worked closely with the Director of Player Personnel on a wide array of tasks, coordinated the daily practice reports that the coaching staff received throughout the week and facilitated recruiting calls. Osumah lettered from 2014-17 at Maine as a wide receiver. He was the 2017 Jack Cosgrove Award for Excellence in Leadership honoree. A South Windsor, Connecticut, native, Osumah earned his bachelor's in business administration from Maine in 2017 and his master's in social sciences in Wesleyan in 2020.

Jeff Beckles joined the Massachusetts football staff in August 2025 as the Assistant Running Backs Coach after spending the 2024 season as the running backs ...

Jeff Stern joins the Massachusetts football program as a Sports Performance Coach after spending two years as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Iowa. He also spent the 2019 season with Iowa football as a strength and conditioning intern. During Stern's time with Iowa, the Hawkeyes won 18 games across two seasons, including 10 wins and capturing the Big Ten West Division in 2023. Iowa earned berths to the Citrus and Music City Bowls after the 2023 and 2024 seasons, respectively, and finished the 2023 year ranked No. 24 nationally. Prior to Iowa, Stern served as an assistant director of strength and conditioning at Central Michigan. There, he implemented strength and conditioning programs for softball and volleyball student-athletes, and assisted football's strength, speed and conditioning drills. Stern was also responsible for the refueling station for the Chippewas. Stern had two stints at Merrimack College, first spending the 2020-21 year as a graduate fellow, followed by the 2021 fall semester as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. While on staff, he executed speed, strength and conditioning programs for football, track and field throwers, women's basketball and women's tennis. Before Merrimack, Stern was an assistant strength coach at Toyota Racing Development in Cornelius, North Carolina, and held a strength and conditioning internship with the football program at the University of North Carolina. Stern, a Marblehead, Massachusetts, native, earned

Alma Mater: Northwestern '22, '20 Season at Massachusetts: First Jeremy Larkin joins the Massachusetts football staff as the running backs coach in January 2...

Alma Mater: Utica '17 Season at Massachusetts: First Joe Castellitto joined the UMass football staff in December 2024 as the program's special teams coordinator, after spending the previous two seasons as the special teams coordinator and nickels coach at Dartmouth. While at Dartmouth, he helped the Big Green to back-to-back Ivy League Championship titles. Castellitto coached the 2024 Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Year in Owen Zalc, while seeing two players earn spots on the First and Second Team All-Conference lists. In 2024, his special teams unit lead the Ivy League in PFF ranking (90) and graded fifth in all of FCS. Prior to Dartmouth, Castellitto was a member of the UConn staff for three years, serving as a defensive graduate assistant for the 2020 season while working with the defensive backs, before being promoted to the outside linebackers, as well as the interim quality control coach for the 2021 season. He was promoted once again for the 2022 season to a defensive analyst role with the linebackers. In that year with the Huskies, he aided the program to its first bowl game in seven years, the Myrtle Beach Bowl. Castellitto also spent time as the outside linebackers coach and run game coordinator at Central Connecticut State for the 2019 season. The Blue Devils finished the year ranked 22nd in the country with an 11-2 record and an undefeated mark in the Northeast Conference (NEC) to win the league title. He coached two linebackers to All-NEC honors, with the

Year At Massachusetts: First Overall Head Coach Record: 20-15 (at Maine/FCS) Alma Mater: Springfield College '08 Joe Harasymiak was named the 32nd head coach of the University of Massachusetts football program, as announced by Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford on December 4, 2024. Harasymiak brings 17 years of coaching experience to the Minutemen, including seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at two FBS institutions: positional coach/co-defensive coordinator at Minnesota (2018-21) and defensive coordinator at Rutgers (2022-24). "I am thrilled and extremely grateful for this opportunity to be the next head coach at the University of Massachusetts," said Harasymiak. "I want to thank Chancellor Reyes, Ryan Bamford, Trustee Brunelle and alumnus Marty Jacobson for believing in me to be the next leader of this great program. It was clear to me that we have outstanding leadership and alignment from the top down that will allow us to compete for MAC championships and to sustain that success. I can't wait to get around our student-athletes and start building relationships. My wife, Brittany, and daughters Sophie and Ellie can't wait to get to Amherst." Career Overview Harasymiak (pronounced hare-uh-SIM-ee-ack) has served as the Scarlet Knights' defensive coordinator for each of the past three seasons while also coaching the linebackers in 2024. He was a 2022 and 2023 Broyles Award nominee for the Scarlet Knights, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach. Harasymiak a

Joe Maurer joins the Minutemen football staff in January 2025 as a defensive graduate assistant. In the spring of 2024, Maurer served as the defensive backs ...

Alma Mater: SUNY-Brockport '13 Season at Massachusetts: First Jordan Hogan was named to the Massachusetts football staff as the wide receivers coach in Janua...

Jordan “Jordy” O’Connor joined the University of Massachusetts football staff in early 2026 as a linebackers graduate assistant. O’Connor arrived in Amherst ...

Josh Heinrich enters his first season with Massachusetts football as the Chief of Staff for the program after spending six years as the director of football operations and assistant director of player personnel at Stony Brook. While with the Seawolves, Heinrich was responsible for day-to-day and long-term operations of the football department, including organizing all travel arrangements for players, coaches and administrators and supervising all student managers. He also oversaw the budget for the program, served as the academic liaison and organized partnership events with prospective student-athletes. Prior to his time at Stony Brook, Heinrich spent the 2018 season at Maine, serving as the director of football operations and as the National Football League liaison. In that role, he was charged with all video/technological duties within the football department and coordinated all NFL coaches and scouts' visits. Before Heinrich's director of football operations role with the Black Bears, he spent the 2016 and 2017 seasons as the director of player personnel and video coordinator at Maine. Heinrich had a year stint at Fordham prior to going to Maine, working within football operations, recruiting and video assistance. He spent the spring of 2015 as an intern at Syracuse, filming practices, aiding coaches in breakdown of games and practices and assisting in the recruitment and evaluation of players. As an undergraduate student at SUNY Cortland, Heinrich served three seasons as

Alma Mater: Maine '19 Season at Massachusetts: First Kayon Whitaker joins the Minutemen in an analyst role in December of 2024 after spending the past three seasons at Rutgers, most recently as a player personnel assistant in 2024. In 2023, he was a graduate assistant defensive line coach for the Scarlet Knights after serving as a player development/wide receivers graduate assistant coach in 2022. Before joining Rutgers, Whitaker worked in defensive quality control coach and assistant operations at Maine in 2021. Whitaker was a standout defensive lineman at Maine from 2016-19, appearing in 40 career games for the Black Bears from 2016-19. He finished his collegiate career with 183 tackles, 45.5 tackles-for-loss, 27 sacks and seven forced fumbles, earning all-conference laurels three times. As a senior in 2019, Whitaker produced 20 stops in the backfield with nine sacks en route to First Team All-CAA accolades and was named the team's most outstanding defensive player. A native of Washington, D.C., Whitaker earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Maine in 2019.

Kevin Juszynski joins Massachusetts football in January 2025 as the Director of Football Operations after spending three years as the assistant director of football operations at Virginia Tech. With the Hokies, Juszynski served as the football staff's liaison to the marketing, digital strategy, creative media and strategic communications departments, as well as with the in-venue production team. In addition to assisting with all team travel logistics, he worked with the personnel department in the execution of all recruiting visits and helped in the coordination of Virginia Tech's Pro Day and coaching clinics, as well as camps and other events. Juszynski was also responsible for managing the day-to-day upkeep and maintenance needs of the Hokies football facilities. Juszynski's efforts aided the Hokies in making two bowl appearances during his time, including the Duke's Mayo Bowl (2024) and the Military Bowl (2023). Prior to his time at Virginia Tech, Juszynski served as an operations intern for two seasons at Penn State. There, he assisted Michael Hazel, who is currently the Virginia Tech Football Chief of Staff, and helped the Nittany Lions earn a berth in the 2021 Outback Bowl. Juszynski collaborated with marketing, social and creative service teams, scheduled and executed team content days, and assisted all departments with daily tasks, which included the creation of analytical studies for coaches, preparing press notes, attending various meetings and general facility upke

Alma Mater: Mars Hill '15 Season at Massachusetts: Seventh Matt Layman was promoted to tight ends coach in February 2023 after completing his fourth season with Massachusetts in 2022, serving as an offensive analyst (tight ends). Layman worked with tight ends Josiah Johnson, who earned Second Team All-Independent Honors in 2022, and Gino Campiotti, a 2023 Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent Conference Second Team honoree. In the 2023 season, Layman helped the Minutemen offense improve 85 percent in point production year-over-year. Prior to his analyst role, Layman was a graduate assistant for the offensive line (2021) and running backs (2020). Layman worked with the offensive line in 2021 that paved the way for running back Ellis Merriweather to become the Minutemen's first 1,000-yard rusher in the FBS era. He also spent time working with the tight ends and quarterbacks upon his arrival at Massachusetts in March of 2019. Before joining UMass, Layman began his career at Westminister College as a graduate assistant for two seasons, working primarily with quarterbacks. While there, he helped coach two quarterbacks in the program that recieved All-Conference nods and a quarterback that ranked second all-time in school history for total passing yards and touchdowns. Layman also was the head coach and offensive coordinator for the junior varsity team. Layman played at the collegiate level as a quarterback for Robert Morris University (August 2011-December 2012), before transferr

Alma Mater: Fort Hays State '09; Millikin '06 Season at Massachusetts: First Max Warner comes to Amherst in February 2026 after most recently coaching at Toledo and Bowling Green as the offensive coordinator. "I am excited to officially announce the addition of Max Warner as our program's offensive coordinator," head coach Joe Harasymiak said. "Max bolsters our program with his proven track record of productive and innovative offenses, player development and program growth. His experience will be a tremendous asset to the Massachusetts football family. In our conversations, it became clear he aligns with our culture and that he desires to be part of what we are building. His success at multiple levels speaks to the strength of his offensive philosophy and his commitment to team building and we're confident he will help us take the next steps as a program." Warner was most recently an offensive analyst with Toledo for the 2025 campaign. Prior to Toledo, he was the Co-Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Bowling Green from January 2022 through March of 2025. He was also the play caller for the Falcons. "I am thrilled be joining the Massachusetts football program and want to thank head coach Joe Harasymiak and athletic director Ryan Bamford for the opportunity," Warner said. "With the energy inside the football program and the resources committed to our student-athletes, this felt like the perfect place for me and my family. The work has already begun and I'm excited

Nicole Szymczak joined the University of Massachusetts Sports Medicine staff as an Assistant Athletic Trainer in September 2025, providing care for the footb...

Alma Mater: Mississippi State '19; Penn State '15 Season at Massachusetts: First After overseeing the defensive line and outside linebackers for the previous three seasons at Akron, Nyeem Wartman joined the Minutemen football staff in January 2025 as the defensive line coach. With the Zips, Wartman aided the defense to five top-45 national rankings, while sitting in the top 25 in two categories. In 2023, the Akron defense ranked 14th in first down defense and 31st in total defense in FBS. He also served as the position coach for 2023 All-MAC first team selection CJ Nunnally. Prior to Akron, Wartman spent two years at New Hampshire as a defensive line coach. He helped the team to the 2022 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Conference Championship and a second round FCS playoff appearance. Wartman had two Wildcats garner the 2022 Associated Press FCS All-America accolades, collecting second and third team honors, while one player earned a spot on the All-CAA Third Team. Before joining the UNH staff, Wartman served as a defensive graduate assistant at Mississippi State during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Wartman was a standout linebacker at Penn State from 2012-16. A 2016 Butkus Award Preseason Watch List member, he helped the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten Championship. In 2014, Wartman made a career- and team-high 11 tackles in the 2014 New Era Pinstripe Bowl victory against Boston College at Yankee Stadium. He also earned 2013 Academic All-Big Team honors and was one of only six t

Griffin joined the Massachusetts athletics department in June of 2023 as an Assistant Athletic Trainer for the football program. Prior to joining UMass, Griffin served as a resident in athletic training for Boston College, primarily providing coverage for the football program for two seasons. He assisted with pre-season screening, including isokinetic testing, injury tracking and medical document filing, while helping with the diagnosing and treatment of orthopedic injuries and illnesses for the Eagles throughout the year. Griffin also assisted with writing and implementing rehabilitation programs, and other various daily operations. Before his time at Boston College, Griffin spent two years as a graduate assistant at Quincy University. In the 2020-21 season, he shared coverage of football, transitioned to sole coverage of men's volleyball, and assisted with cheer and dance. In the 2019-20 season, Griffin shared coverage of football, and was solely responsible for women's lacrosse, men's tennis and women's tennis. While at Quincy, he aided with scheduling appointments, pre-participation paperwork, involved in communication with doctors on diagnosing, programmed post op rehabilitation and helped with other testing. Griffin earned a Bachelors of Science in Athletic Training from Plymouth State in 2019, and received his Masters of Science in Education with a concentration in leadership from Quincy in 2021. He was a four-year letterwinner on the men's lacrosse team at Plymouth, w

Rich Worsell brings more than two decades of coaching experience, including 15 years as an offensive coordinator, with a track record of building record-setting offenses. Worsell most recently served as offensive coordinator at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, a role he assumed in 2022. He oversaw all offensive operations, including game planning, practice organization, staff management and offensive line development, while also leading recruiting strategy for the position group. Under his direction, Oshkosh’s offense produced some of the most prolific numbers in program history, averaging 417 yards and 33.6 points per game in 2022 and improving to 433 yards and 37.2 points per game in 2023. The unit ranked among national leaders in passing production and third-down conversions and led the WIAC in multiple offensive categories. Worsell was named Hansen Analytics Regional Offensive Coordinator of the Year in 2022. His tenure has also included the development of All-Americans and a National Offensive Player of the Year. Prior to Oshkosh, Worsell served as director of football research and analytics and tight ends coach at the University of Akron from 2019–22. In the newly created role, he built the program’s analytics infrastructure, producing advanced scouting systems, real-time game strategy analysis and long-range roster modeling. He worked across all three phases of the game, advised situational decision-making on game day and oversaw video, creative media and recruitin

Thomas Gasbarro joined the Minutemen football staff in early 2026 as a special teams graduate assistant. In 2025, Gasbarro served as the special teams qualit...

Tony Valentino joins the Minutemen football staff in August 2025 as an defensive graduate assistant. During the 2024 season, Valentino was the offensive assi...

Travis Ecke joined the UMass football staff in February of 2025 after spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the University of New Haven. At UMass, ...