"It's essentially starting over again," Harriman said. "I think Bates is at a crossroads. There's some talent, and some of it is untapped. I want to create a comprehensive program where players and coaches are on the same page. It will have to be simplistic so everyone can grasp it, but it has to have enough [dimensions] to pose other teams problems."

His extensive experience in the Ivy League, which included nine years of assistant coaching at Princeton, prepared Harriman for the tricky task of balancing academics and athletics.

"Bates is similar to the Ivy League in the sense that education comes first here, and there's a time constraint," Harriman said.

Harriman realizes that the responsibility of head coaching after so many years of being an assistant will require an adjustment.

"An assistant has certain responsibilities," Harriman said. "But even if a head coach delegates, it realistically all comes back to [him]. He has to oversee the entire program instead of certain areas and has to have the pulse of every part."

Harvard has begun the process of finding Harriman's successor. Because of affirmative action rules, the school is accepting applications through the middle of March. Murphy described promoting a new defensive coordinator from within the current staff as a "distinct possibility."

Harriman is not the first assistant of Murphy's to be sought after by other teams. He is the third head coach to have worked under Murphy, along with five assistants in the Big Ten, four in the Big East, two in the SEC, and one in the NFL.

"I had a chance to get my first head coaching job at 30, so I was one of the fortunate ones," Murphy said.

Harriman had to wait longer for his shot, but he has it now.