MARK HARRIMAN NAMED BATES HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
 

LEWISTON, Maine -- Mark Harriman, defensive coordinator at Harvard University since 1994, has been named head football coach at Bates College.
 
"We are pleased to have a person of Mark Harriman's caliber at Bates," said Director of Athletics Suzanne Coffey. "His outstanding work at a school with a similar commitment to academics and athletics makes him an ideal fit for Bates."

"I am extremely excited about the prospects of coaching football at Bates and rebuilding the program," Harriman said. "I look forward to returning to my home state and becoming a part of the campus and local communities."

Harriman has several ties to his native state of Maine. The son of Don and Ann Harriman of Westbrook, Harriman was an All-State performer at offensive guard and linebacker for Westbrook High School, where he graduate in 1976. A 1980 graduate of Springfield (Mass.) College, where he played under current Bowdoin College head coach and Bates alumnus Howard Vandersea '63, Harriman earned All-New England honors at linebacker. Upon graduation, Harriman worked for five years as a graduate assistant and assistant coach at the University of Maine at Orono, where he served as outside linebackers' and strength coach.

Harriman has been a defensive coordinator in the Ivy League since 1989, serving in that capacity at Princeton University from 1989 to 1994, where he won two Ivy League titles before joining Harvard.

Harriman's 1997 defense at Harvard was the only Division I-AA program
ranked in the top five nationally in rushing defense (5th, 81.9 yards per game), pass efficiency defense (5th, 86.3 rating) and scoring defense (2nd, 12.3 points per game). The Crimson finished 9-1 overall, and 7-0 in Ivy League play for the first time ever.

Harriman becomes the 19th head football coach in 103 years of football at Bates. He replaces Rick Pardy, who resigned in January to become defensive coordinator at Marist College. Harriman takes over a team which was 1-7 this past season, including a 22-21 victory over cross-state rival Colby College.