The Offensive Assistants

Dave Brock Offensive Coordinator/ WR Coach
Brock is a Moorestown, New Jersey native and he has eight years of coordinating experience under his belt. After stating his coaching career at a Division 3 school, he got his first Division 1 job at Hofstra, where he coached along with Kyle Flood. While at Hofstra, he held a number of positions including RB coach, WR coach, recruiting coordinator and eventually offensive coordinator. His greatest accomplishment with the Pride was recruiting and coaching future New Orelans Saints star Marques Colston. As a coordinator, his offenses were amongst the best in the nation at the FCS level. In '02,  he moved on to Temple, where he led some pretty terrible offenses during the Owls' pre-Golden, Hadean Ages. In 2005-06 he was the wide receiver coach at North Carolina where he coached a young Hakeem Nicks, and in 2007 he coached Jordy Nelson into an All American at Kansas State. He ran the Wildcats' offense the following season, and the Josh Freeman led unit finished 18th in scoring offense and 34th in total offense. KSU brought in a new coaching staff the following season, and Brock moved on to Boston College as a tightends coach from 2009-11. He was pressed into OC duties when the Eagles' OC resigned in the middle of last season.

Brock is a very good recruiter, and has ties in the North East, North Carolina, Illinois, and California. He says he is going to run a pro style offense (though that can be a very vague term),  so there won't be a big change personnel or scheme wise. This is a very solid hire by Flood. Brock is from NJ, knows the north east and has a great record as a WR and coordinating experience.


Rob Spence Quarterbacks Coach
Spence, a Pullman, NY native, has certainly made his way around the country (mostly the NE) through out his coaching career, which includes 16 seasons as a coordinator. His first job was at Iona, where he recruited Kyle Flood, before moving on to Holy Cross, Hofstra, Maryland, all as a quarterback coach. He later returned to Hofstra for his first gig as an offensive coordinator. In 2000 he moved on to coordinate a high flying passing attack at Lousiana Tech with Luke McCown at the helm, and moved on to Toledo the following season. At Toledo, his offenses were in the top 25 in scoring every year, and he coached future pros Bruce Gradkowski, Chester Taylor, Nick Kaczur, and Lance Moore.

He received his first chance to coach at a big time school when he became Clemson's offensive coordinator in 2005 and he had a mostly disastrous tenure there. His QBs performed very poorly, the offense underachieved and he was let go along with head coach Tommy Bowden in the middle of the 2008 season. In 2009 he made his way to Syracuse, where he was fired after 1 season (This was the Greg Palus year). He's coached at Temple and Bethune Cookman the last 2 seasons. I don't know much about his recruiting record. This is a peculiar hire by Flood and I'm not sure how I feel about it. He has a lot of experience and some success as a QB coach and he know the NE, but his last few stops haven't ended too well.

Damian Wroblewski Offensive Line Coach
Wroblewski, a Rhode Island native, has very strong ties to the northeast, having played at Lafayette and coached at Bryant (RI), Penn, Stony Brook (NY), Hofstra and Delaware. (Interestingly enough, Kyle Flood also coached at the latter two.) According to his bio on Delaware's website, he has done a lot of recruiting in the state of Maryland, which is a key battleground in the northeast recruiting landscape. Wroblewski's offenses have consistently been amongst the best in the Atlantic 10, utilizing a zone blocking scheme like Flood has used over the years, and he even produced a starting NFL offensive lineman while at Hofstra, Willie Colon of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His past experience and ties to the northeast make him a very good first addition to Flood's staff.

Darnell Dinkins Tight Ends Coach
Dinkins, a Pittsburgh, PA native and Pitt grad, joins the Scarlet Knight's staff after spending the last 10 seasons in the NFL. He was the assistant TE coach for the Buccaneers last season, following his 9 year playing career that included time with the Steelers, Giants, Browns and Saints. Dinkins is pretty young for a coach, and that's a good thing. Younger coaches can connect better with recruits and bring energy to the coaching staff on the practice field and recruiting trail. He doesn't have a lot of coaching experience, but he knows what it takes to be a TE at the NFL level, and that could go a long way.

*Ben Sirmans was hired to be the running back coach,  but he just accepted the same position with the St. Louis Rams. I thought that he was one of the best RB coaches in the country, previously coaching at Boston College, Michigan State, Kent State and Maine, so that's unfortunate. He's from New Jersey too, this would have been a great addition.

Coaching Staff Departures

Alex Marvez of Foxsports.com is reporting that Rutgers assistant coaches Frank Cignetti (OC/QB), Bob Fraser (DC), Brian Angelichio (TE) and Jeff Hafley (DB) are all leaving for NFL jobs. The latter three will join their old boss, Greg Schiano, in Tampa, while Cignetti is headed off to St. Louis to become Sam Bradford's position coach.* These departures were expected, but they still sting none-the-less.

Hafley was considered one of the best recruiters in the country, landing a number of top players from the North Jersey Parochial Powerhouses during his time at Pitt and Rutgers. His best work was mending the RU- Don Bosco relationship. He wasn't considered a great defensive backs coach while at Pitt, but he did help Logan Ryan and Duron Harmon earn all Big East honors last season. He obviously is good enough for former NFL DB coach Greg Schiano to hire him twice.

Angelichio was also an ace recruiter, making strong inroads for Rutgers in Eastern Pennsylvania. He was able to haul in two 4 star offensive tackles, Chris Muller and JJ Denamn from that area for the 2012 recruiting class. Unlike Hafley, he does have a good reputation coaching tight ends, turning raw, athletic freaks like Dorin Dickerson and DC Jefferson into solid blockers and pass catchers.

Fraser was not a star recruiter and Schiano ran the defense for the most part, but Fraser did a very good job coaching the Knights' defensive lineman and linebackers during his six seasons on Greg Schiano's staff

Cignetti drastically improved Rutgers' offense in his lone season On the Banks. His pro style offense was a much better fit for the culture at Rutgers after an incompetent Kirk Ciarroca almost ran the program into the ground with his no-huddle spread attack. Under Cignetti, the Knights controlled the clock with an inconsistent rushing attack and gave the defense time to rest. His passing game was solid, despite some quarterback controversy and too many drops from the receiving corps. He was not a super coordinator by any means, but he was solid and got Rutgers' offense back on the right track.

Tim Pernetti and Kyle Flood have some extra money to bring in new assistants, and it's absolutely imperative that they make good hires. They'll not only need two new coordinators and someone to coach DBs, QBs, and TEs, they'll need coaches who are great recruiters with ties to  North Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania as well. A head coach, especially a rookie one, needs to surround himself with a great staff in order to succeed.

*I guess this means that Gary Nova will be a Ram in 3 years.Yes this is a tongue in cheek comment

Rutgers Hires Damian Wroblewski as Offensive Line Coach

Kyle Flood hinted yesterday that he had hired a new offensive line coach and today Football Scoop is reporting that it is former Delaware offensive line coach/run game coordinator Damian Wroblewski. Wroblewski had just joined the coaching staff at Ball State, but he will instead take Flood's old position.

Wroblewski, a Rhode Island native, has very strong ties to the northeast having played at Lafayette and coached at Bryant (RI), Penn, Stony Brook (NY), Hofstra and Delaware. (Interestingly enough, Kyle Flood also coached at the latter two.) According to his bio on Delaware's website, he has done a lot of recruiting in the state of Maryland, which is a key battleground in the northeast recruiting landscape.

Flood spoke very highly of his new hire, saying: "I'm not ready to announce who our offensive line coach is just yet. But I know who I want and he is excellent. I really believe he's the best offensive line coach in the country."

Wroblewski's offenses have consistently been amongst the best in the Atlantic 10, utilizing a zone blocking scheme like Flood has used over the years. He even produced a starting NFL offensive lineman while at Hofstra, Willie Colon of the Pittsburgh Steelers. His past experience and ties to the northeast make him a very good first addition to Flood's staff.

Staff Shake Up Continues

 Greg Schiano was bound to bring some assistants from Rutgers with him to Tampa and it appears that defensive coordinator Bob Fraser and possibly offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti will head down to Florida. Fraser is already scheduled to interview (it's hard to imagine him not getting a job) and Cignetti is the front runner to run the Bucs' offense after former Rutgers offensive coordinator, John McNulty, did not receive permission to interview for the position from his current employer, the Arizona Cardinals. The Buccaneers are still trying to pry McNulty away though. (Interestingly enough, the New York Times reported that McNulty was a candidate to be Schiano's heir apparent at Rutgers.)

Wide receiver coach P.J. Fleck will also reportedly be leaving Rutgers to become the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Norther Illinois. Fleck did a great job recruiting and developing wide receivers in his brief time On the Banks and he will be missed.

As for replacements, there are a lot of coordinator candidates potentially available who know the area, but I'm not going to pretend that I know who potential offensive line and wide receiver coaches are. Mike Teel could come in as a receivers coach or QB coach, (depending on who they hire as a coordinator) after spending last season as the quarterbacks coach at Kean University. But who knows, Schiano might bring him to Tampa as a practice squad player.

Defensive Coordinator Candidates

 Tom Bradley former DC Penn State
Bradley left Penn State after being passed over for the head coaching position and has supposedly already been named Rutgers' defensive coordinator. He has coached dominant defenses at Penn State since he started running the defense in Happy Valley in 2000, bringing  Joe Paterno's cover 3 defense  into the 21st century. He would also bring the added bonus of strong recruiting ties to western Pennsylvania. You can see more about him here.

Ron Vanderlinden Penn State LB coach
The former Maryland head coach has been Linebacker U's LB coach since 2001. He was also the coordinator for Northwestern's 1995 Rose Bowl team and Colorado's 1990 national championship team.

Larry Johnson Penn State DL coach
Johnson has been at Penn State since 1996 and has produced a number of all American defensive lineman. He was a legendary high school coach in Maryland prior to that, and is the best recruiter in the state of Maryland.

Randy Shannon former Miami Head Coach
He did a solid job as Miami's defensive coordinator before flopping as a head coach. He has reportedly turned down other coordinator offers, so it's a mystery if he's even interested in getting back to coaching.

Scott Shafer Defensive Coordinator Syracuse
Runs a heavy pressure defense, similar to Schiano. On the Banks suggests just buying him from Syracuse.

Dave Wannstadt Assistant Head Coach Buffalo Bills
One of Greg Schiano's mentors, but I don't think he has the right personality for college ball. He does knows defense and knows the Big East after a some what successful tenure at Pitt though.

Offensive Coordinator Candidates

Mark Whipple QB Coach Cleveland Browns
Whipple was a highly successful FCS head coach at UMass, and he has bounced around the last several years with the Steelers, Eagles, Miami (Hurricanes not Dolphins) and now the Browns. He likes to sling the ball deep (sometimes at a fault) and is supposedly kind of difficult to work with.

Ralph Friedgen Former Head Coach Maryland
Fridge was inexplicably fired from Maryland  after a 9-4 2010 campaign. He runs a pro-style offense and was a very successful coordinator at Georgia Tech before he took over at Maryland.

Herb Hand Offensive Line Coach Vanderbilt
Hand is from up state New York and has previously coached in the Big East, serving as Rich Rodriguez's tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. His background is completely in the spread offense and he was Tulsa's co-offensive coordinator with Gus Malzahn in 2007.


Tim Albin Offensive Coordinator Ohio 
Albin was one of Frank Solich's assistants at Nebraska, and he followed him to Ohio, serving as offensive coordinator. Albin's offenses at Ohio have been very good, utilizing the pistol offense, which combines both pro style and spread concepts.

John McNulty Wide Receiver Coach Arizona Cardinals
Hey, why not? He did a great job the first time around, why not try to relive the magic? I'd imagine he's pissed off at the Cardinals any way.

Jeff Zagodzinski Former Head Coach Boston College
Zagodzinski served as an NFL assistant for 8 years before getting his first head coaching gig at Boston College in 2007. In is brief two year stint, he won two ACC Atlantic division titles and groomed Matt Ryan into a top 5 pick. He was fired for interviewing for the Jets head coaching job in 2009 and has bounced around since. He has a good track record as a play caller, running a west coast system.

My preference is that Bradley gets hired to coach the defense and Cignetti ends up staying at Rutgers. If Cignetti leaves...I'd take Jagodzinski.

h/t to @ruscoop for the links