When Harvard head football coach Andrew Aurich stepped off the field in Providence, RI after only his second game as a program leader, he knew something had to change. The team had just

suffered a second-half collapse against Brown that ended with a botched snap on a field goal attempt. The game ended in a sobering defeat in a league where two losses usually put a team out

of title contention. Aurich, though, didn’t blame his special teams unit or any other player on his roster. He only thought about himself. “I felt like, when the game was over, I wasn’t

playing to win,” Aurich said, reflecting on the game months later. “I was just trying to play not to lose.” He told his team as much — taking responsibility for the loss despite not having

offense to pick up the first or his defense to stop the other team if they failed. The change paid off. The Crimson didn’t lose again until the last game of the season against Yale and still

managed to clinch a share of the Ivy Title — all thanks to Aurich’s game two “wake up call.” “That was a big defining moment,” Aurich said. Advertisement ‘YOU CAN’T LET A GAME BEAT YOU

TWICE’ As Aurich walked behind the stadium after the Brown game, he remembers a player coming up to him and asking him how he was feeling. “I’m not going to just sit here and feel sorry for

myself,” he told the player. “We got a game next week.” “You can’t let a game beat you twice,” he added. This resilient attitude has been critical throughout Aurich’s first year at Harvard.

Even before he officially arrived on campus, alumni and players expressed skepticism about his hiring, preferring an internal hire or someone with previous head coaching experience rather

than a former Princeton player and untested coach. But since that late September loss to Brown, Aurich led the team to a successful season, beating his alma mater — Harvard’s first win

against Princeton since 2016 — and proving he belongs at the helm of the Crimson’s storied program. Despite the team’s success this season, Aurich noted that the Crimson will need to prepare

for some tough battles as they look to make history this fall by picking up a bid to the FCS playoffs — for the first time in the Ivy League. According to Aurich, the team will enter next

season having graduated a significant amount of talent on defense — specifically in the defensive line and linebacker rooms. While the unit still retains captain and top defensive talent

junior safety Ty Bartrum, the losses might force the defensive line to adjust its usual balance of rest and playing time. Advertisement Aurich suggested the offensive schemes will also be

reworked by Offensive Coordinator Mickey Fein after junior wide receiver Cooper Barkate graduates a year early to depart for Duke football. The receiver had been a special talent in the Ivy

League, tallying 1,084 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. His connection with quarterback and roommate Jaden Craig helped salvage more than a few games last season. Barkate’s loss may be a

harbinger of the era of name, image, and likeness deals and increasingly easy transfers, though Aurich said he finds it unlikely anyone else will be able to graduate in three years while

remaining a top football prospect. “He’s a unicorn,” Aurich said of Barkate. Instead, Aurich said he anticipates players will attempt to graduate only a semester early, using their

eligibility — which they would be prohibited from using for an extra year at Harvard anyway, per League rules — at another school and start spring training with their new team. While

Barkate’s departure might not signal long-term pains for the team, Aurich acknowledged that the team will need to tighten up this year, no longer able to rely on star graduates to bail them

out of difficult situations. He hopes to rely on a combination of younger talent and older players who, though rarely starters in past games, have learned their roles inside and out and are

ready to take the mantle. But facing a formidable fall schedule, Aurich said their task will be difficult. “We are not the same team we were last year,” he said. “I feel like the distance

between us and a lot of teams we played, as far as talent level was significantly further last year. And that’s not to say we won’t be as talented or more talented than a lot of teams who

play, but the margin for error is much smaller.” A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRAINING Aurich has a plan, though, to prepare his squad for these difficult battles — and it all started this spring

with mental toughness training for the team. Advertisement The Harvard Stadium field — renamed the Tim Murphy field this year — is getting new turf this spring, so the team only practiced on

the field in the beginning of the semester. This meant that Aurich was left with about a month to do what he calls “toughness training.” He brought in mental health professionals and sports

performance groups to speak to the players and help them figure out what strategies work best for them as individuals. On a team level, focusing on toughness starts with approaching each

practice like a championship game. “We’re never just out there running plays aimlessly,” Aurich said. Instead, he teaches players to establish a “pre-snap ritual” to make sure they are

dialed into the down and distance of each play. The ritual contains three key words. “Alignment, job, eyes,” he said. “So what’s my alignment? What’s my job in the play? Where do my eyes

need to be in the snap?” This way, not only are players considering the stake of the play, they can shake off whatever emotions are left from the last snap. “When you have that pre-snap

ritual,” Aurich said. “You have no choice but to move on.” The training comes as the team prepares for the first season since the Ivy League began allowing the league’s champion to play in

the FCS postseason. Aurich said the possibility of a playoff run has added “another level of excitement” to the team, but that he expects almost no tangible changes. “The only adjustments

that have to be made is really Thanksgiving Day plans,” Aurich said. “You gotta get some trip insurance, because you may be sticking around over Thanksgiving break.” Now, as the team looks

forward to the fall, Aurich will also prepare the incoming freshmen for the fast pace of college football. He said he is not opposed to playing freshmen if he thinks they’ve earned the reps

— unlike the standard practice under Murphy, his predecessor. Advertisement “What always comes up in conversation with any recruit is they always ask about playing time,” Aurich said. “And

what I tell them is, ‘I’m always in the interest of feeding my family, number one.’” With that in mind, Aurich said he will be on the lookout for the players who learn the schemes over the

summer and can jump right into action come training camp. “I would fully expect a number of these first-years to be playing for us and helping us win games next year,” he said. Junior Jaden

Craig launches a ball to wide receiver Cooper Barkate, who transferred to Duke after a stellar season. By Nicholas T. Jacobsson ‘I WILL EARN MY KEEP IN RECRUITING’ Aurich’s new crop of 31

freshmen is an elite group that turned down more than 60 FBS offers — the highest level league in college football — to come to Harvard. He said he feels confident that Harvard’s coaching

staff was “winning the battles” against other Ivy League schools when recruiting, a strength increasingly necessary in the NIL era. “We’re recruiting different than everybody else in the Ivy

League,” Aurich said. “I’m almost positive one of the reasons I got hired for this job is because I have a different viewpoint of how you should recruit in the Ivy League.” He explained

that the rest of the League often waits until the summer to start recruiting in earnest, using less formal channels like inviting players to camps and making soft offers through position

coaches without head coach approval. Instead, Aurich said he works on the Power Four timeline and as of May is already almost done with the next year’s recruiting. Aurich’s strategy hinges

on making fewer offers, but making all of them firm offers, approved by position coaches, coordinators, and himself so that recruits can feel confident in their position on the team. He also

relies on the weight of the Harvard name to pull in top talent who might end up at other Ivy League schools. “You’re at Harvard. Harvard is like being at Alabama in the Power Four

football,” he said. “We can essentially — if we do this right — draft our own class every single year.” Advertisement With new recruiting tactics and the academic power-house of Harvard

behind him, Aurich feels confident that he’ll pull in star talent across the roster each year. “I will earn my keep in recruiting more than anything, because we are going to recruit at a

really, really high level,” he said. As part of attracting the best possible recruits, Aurich hopes to build a program where players create strong connections with coaching staff over four

years. He said that effort starts at the top. “I want to be a coach that the players feel really comfortable coming to talk to about anything,” he said. “They feel like they can come and see

me, because I’m gonna work with them if there’s things we should change.” Hard work lies at the heart of all of Aurich’s plans. As he prepares for his second season with the team, Aurich

seemed undaunted by the task. “You got to be on every day as head coach,” he said. “My job is to make sure our culture is coming through every opportunity possible.” – Staff Writer Praveen

Kumar can be reached at [email protected] – Staff Writer Jo B. Lemann can be reached at [email protected]