Andrew Aurich never knew the timeline, but he embraced the goal: Become an Ivy League head football coach.
Having played and served as an assistant coach in the hallowed league at Princeton, Aurich had intimate familiarity – and a desire to return to those roots despite having coached in both the NFL and Power Conference-college football.
Then, Tim Murphy retired after a decorated three-decade run atop the Harvard Crimson, and Aurich entered the fray.
He was hired atop Harvard in mid-February and has just settled into his new home this month, with camp slated to start in three weeks ahead of Harvard’s 2024 season-opening tilt against Stetson.
“My goal was to be an Ivy League head football coach,” Aurich told FootballScoop. “I had really enjoyed my time in the league as a player and coach and really enjoyed the type of student-athletes you’re around.
“There were a couple jobs that opened throughout the cycle, but to me, it had to be the right job to move my wife (Michelle, a New Jersey native) away from family. Harvard has had five head coaches since 1956. There has been a lot of success and stability there. When that opportunity presented itself, to me it was a no-brainer and had to do everything I could to get this job, because it aligned with exactly what my long-term goals are.”
The Aurich family, including children ages 5, 4 and 3, are settling into the Harvard-area community.
After spending his first five months on the job in a one-bedroom apartment near campus, Aurich is welcoming a transition back to normal operations with his family while carrying over the program’s progression from the spring transition.
Defensively, Harvard returns its staff intact under Aurich with defensive coordinator Scott Larkee, a 1999 Harvard alum, still running that side of the ball.
Mickey Fein remains atop the Harvard offense, keeping coordinator duties and taking over coaching the quarterbacks after previously working with wideouts during his seven seasons in the program.
Despite a large measure of continuity, Aurich is implementing some key changes for Harvard. In addition to an immense on-field emphasis in situational football, Aurich is making intentional tweaks in recruiting after living it first-hand under Greg Schiano at Rutgers.
“One area that I’m trying to use (Schiano’s) model within the Ivy League is his recruiting model,” Aurich, an offensive lineman during his playing days at Princeton, told FootballScoop. “What bothered me in the Ivy League when I coached in it before is that some coaches just throw offers to any kid out there, and then you had to pick up the pieces if the staff didn’t agree. The offer only comes from (Schiano), and there’s a lot of legwork that leads to that point and it ultimately gets to him.
“I wanted to use that same model here. Harvard already separates itself from other teams in the League, but that way to recruit can make us that much more different.”
No detail is too small in Aurich’s bid to run a more efficient program in every element, on and off the field.
“As Coach Schiano would mention to people, he spent a lot of time with Bill Belichick, and Rutgers he called it ‘Football 101,’” Aurich said. “Any area of football, the distance between the sideline and the numbers, the distance between the hashes or the uprights, knowing those elements; working on two minutes at the end of the half, the end of a game. Talk about it as an entire team in such detail that as a coach it’s impossible not to think through and understand it.
“The way to coach it, approach it and teach it was the most important thing because Harvard has so much talent and always has had a lot of talent. We can avoid those [self-inflicted mistakes] by being a smarter team on Saturdays.”
The Crimson are experienced.
Three starters return along the offensive front, the entire running back group is back, headlined by Shane McLaughlin, and two quarterbacks – Jaden Craig and Charles DePrima – have starting experience.
Aurich is emphasizing the tight end position, and Harvard is retooling its ranks at that position.
Larkee’s defense returns numerous key contributors a year after scarcely allowing foes 20 points per game.
“I already knew that it was a talented team,” Aurich said, “but I didn’t realize how experienced they were.
“Defensively, the great thing about their system, is that they’ve always played a lot of guys. So guys were playing a lot of snaps even if they weren’t technically a starter. I think guys with significant experience on defense is a better way to look at it, and we’ve got 20 guys on defense that played a lot of football last year.”
Thus, this is no football rebuild; it is, however, a situation gaining in urgency.
“The general tempo of practice is different,” Aurich said. “We’re running from drill to drill. You don’t have to condition [after practice] when you’re running from drill to drill.
“I want us to look different on tape because of how hard play. We’re going to finish on offense and swarm on defense.”