AMHERST — UMass Director of Athletics Ryan Bamford has a new right-hand man.
Thorr Bjorn, the longtime director of athletics at the University of Rhode Island, will serve as UMass’ senior deputy athletic director and chief administrative officer, with a focus on overseeing the Minutemen football program, starting Dec. 1.
Bjorn, who suited up for the UMass football team from 1987-90, was introduced in a press conference at the Martin Jacobson Football Performance Center on Thursday afternoon and expressed enthusiasm about returning to the Pioneer Valley.
“When Ryan reached out and shared his vision, again, we’ve been friends for a long time, that’s important, but to be honest with you, the reason I’m here is the vision he shared,” Bjorn said.
It’s no secret UMass football has been in shambles for its entire existence as an FBS program (26-131 FBS record since joining in 2012), but Bamford feels bringing in an experienced voice, like Bjorn, will help Bamford with the job that the 10-year AD admitted he needs.
“I can’t be everywhere I need to be,” Bamford said. “I need to go fight for this program externally. I need to go drive NIL revenue. I need to go engage donors around facility projects. I need to go meet with trustees and the president’s office and the chancellor and advocate for what we’re trying to do. All of those things are hard to do when you also want to be at football practice two hours a day, it’s just not possible. I recognize that and I was spreading myself thin.
“Candidly, I wasn’t great in any one area and that’s hard to do,” Bamford said.
Bjorn expanded on Bamford’s vision he referenced that convinced him to join the UMass athletics department, despite accepting a promotion and five-year extension with the URI athletics department just five months ago.
“I can’t over-emphasize the move to the [Mid-American Conference],” Bjorn said. “That’s a big move. That’s a big statement and that’s a statement that says football is important. That’s a football move, so it starts with that.”
While Bjorn’s primary focus will be UMass football, Bamford confirmed he’ll remain the final decision-maker.
“Ultimately, the authority will rest with me on any department decisions relative to this program or any of our programs,” Bamford said. “But now I’ve got someone to advise me.”
Bjorn’s contract will cost $395,000 annually for five years, according to UMass.
Bamford also revealed the decision to fill the senior deputy athletic director position, which had been vacant since Jeff Smith, who previously held the position, was hired as executive director of Campus Recreation and Wellbeing this past June, was “100% his idea.”
“I talked to [Chancellor Javier Reyes], I said ‘this is what I’d like to do, this is how I’d like to carve this out, these are the ways that I think that Thorr can ultimately have impact and affect on this program’ and he was like ‘if you think this is a good move and you think this is going to help our football program, then I’m supportive.'”
Both Bjorn and Bamford briefly touched on the upgrades to McGuirk Alumni Stadium that Bamford initially revealed back in late September, but Bamford mentioned he, Bjorn and head coach Joe Harasymiak are “still honing in on all the design aspects.”
UMass’ latest loss — a 44-10 defeat to Akron, a team ineligible for a bowl game — dropped its 2025 record to 0-9. Despite the losses continuing to stack up, Bamford believes the Minutemen are now positioned for success.
“We all want to win, everybody wants to win, our fanbase wants to win, we’re built to win, we’re now built to win,” Bamford said. “We weren’t built to win for a long time. We’re built to win now. We all recognize the impact, the expectation and the energy that that’s going to take. There’s no doubt that this hire and this move and this appointment to bring Thorr here will serve us well to that end.”