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| Bates photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen |
Bates head football coach Mark Harriman has announced that he will be stepping down, effective May 30, 2018. Harriman has led the Bobcat football program since 1998.
"It has been a special honor to work with so many outstanding student-athletes during my time at Bates," said Harriman. "These young men have exemplified Bobcat spirit each and every day, whether on the field, in the classroom, or in their day-to-day lives as contributing members of our college. I have truly cherished my time on the sidelines and as a member of the Bates community."
The 19th head coach in the 122-year history of the program, Harriman guided Bates football to seven Colby-Bates-Bowdoin series titles, including the last four in a row. He was named the NESCAC Co-Coach of the Year in 2012, when the Bobcats posted a 5-3 record. From 2012 to 2014, Harriman's teams posted consecutive .500 or better records for the first time since 1979. His overall record is 46-115. Since 2005, he has also served as an assistant athletics director.
Half of Harriman's wins have come in the past seven seasons, when Bates went 23-29.
"In coaching a generation of Bates student-athletes, Mark Harriman has earned great respect in the New England Small College Athletic Conference and throughout the region for the strong character of his program and his intense dedication to Bates students," said athletic director Jason Fein. "Hundreds of Bates alumni, in incalculable ways, have benefited from Mark's singular focus on their growth and improvement as athletes and as human beings."
A native of Westbrook, Maine, and a 1980 graduate of Springfield, Harriman served as a defensive coordinator at Princeton and Harvard before arriving at Bates in 1998.