Mark Harriman was the 19th head coach in the history of the Bates College football program. He served as the head coach from 1998-2017. After leading Bates to a 5-3 record and the outright Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) title in 2012, Harriman was named NESCAC Co-Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with Trinity's Jeff Devanney. From 2012-2014, Harriman coached the Bobcats to three consecutive .500 seasons or better for the first time since 1979.
Harriman was also assistant director of athletics at Bates.
For the 2016 season, Harriman served as Bates' offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and running backs coach.
Harriman finished his Bates career with a 46-115 record over 20 years, during which time the Bobcats captured seven outright Colby-Bates-Bowdoin (CBB) titles, including four straight for the first time in program history from 2014-2017. He also led Bates to shared CBB crowns in the 2009 and 2013 seasons. After coaching linebackers and/or coordinating the Bobcat defense in his first 12 years at Bates, Harriman coached quarterbacks for a sixth straight year in 2015. He coached Trevor Smith to the program's first All-NESCAC honor for a quarterback in 2012.
Harriman was also the team's academic coordinator and Admissions liaison.
To Harriman, academics are linked inextricably with athletics at Bates.
"We want all of our players to realize their potential on the field and in the classroom," Harriman says. "To accomplish this, we look for individuals who have a great work ethic on and off the field and who have a passion for football. We demand two things of everyone, regardless of their abilities: accountability for their actions in every phase of their lives, and a willingness to be a team player. In other words, Bates football players put the good of the team and their community ahead of the pursuit of personal accolades."
A native of Westbrook, Maine, Harriman served as the defensive coordinator at Harvard for four seasons before arriving at Bates. The 1997 Crimson were the only Division I-AA team ranked in the top five in rushing defense, pass-efficiency defense and scoring defense, helping produce Harvard's first undefeated Ivy League title.
Harriman's efforts earned him American Football Quarterly's 1997 Division I-AA Defensive Coordinator of the Year honors. Prior to his stint at Harvard, his defense helped Princeton win two Ivy League titles. A 1980 graduate of Springfield College, Harriman was an All-New England linebacker.
Coach Harriman's recruiting areas included Massachusetts, New York City, the Midwest, the Northwest and Southern California.
During his time at Bates, Mark Harriman lived in Monmouth, Maine, with his wife Sue, assistant athletic director and senior woman's administrator.
