If he wasn't wearing a gaudy suit customized in the Minnesota Gophers colors last week at Big Ten Media Day, one would think P.J. Fleck was still coaching at Rutgers.

The first-year Minnesota head coach waxed poetic while reflecting on his days working under ex-Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano.

"To be able to learn so much from Greg Schiano, I would not be here in front of you if it wasn't for Greg,'' Fleck told NJ Advance Media. "I wasn't prepared to be a head football coach until I worked for Greg Schiano. So I always give him a lot of credit.''

In 2010, as Rutgers was concluding a 4-8 campaign, Fleck saw Kirk Ciarrocca at his lowest point. The Scarlet Knights' offense ranked 114th out of 120 teams, and Ciarrocca's play-calling took the bulk of the blame from media and fans alike.

Ciarrocca was fired as Rutgers' co-offensive coordinator at season's end, but the way he handled the adversity stuck with Fleck, who tapped Ciarrocca as his offensive coordinator in 2013, when he landed the head coaching job at Western Michigan.

"I used to work with Coach Ciarrocca,'' Fleck, the first-year Minnesota head coach, said, explaining why he also brought Ciarrocca with him to direct the Gophers' offense this season. "There's not a lot of guys that I hire that I don't know or haven't worked with or worked for. Coach Ciarrocca is one of the best listeners that I've ever met. He's been an incredible friend. Phenomenal football coach, phenomenal offensive mind. And just an incredible person.''

Fleck, who was the Rutgers wide receivers coach in 2010, recalled watching Ciarrocca fight through adversity in 2010.

"I've seen him at his lowest, when things weren't going the best, and I've seen him at his highest. And he's incredibly consistent,'' Fleck told NJ Advance Media last week at Big Ten Media Day. "He is who he is and I love that with coaches, is consistency. That no matter the circumstance it doesn't dictate their behavior. They're able to perform at a very high level even when things aren't going right. And when some of the things he can't control are happening he still handles himself in a very first-class fashion and always found a way to put our players in the most advantageous positions to be successful.''

Fleck offered a similar reason for why he lured Robb Smith from Arkansas to serve as his defensive coordinator. Like Ciarrocca, Smith worked at Rutgers earlier this decade when Fleck was an assistant on Schiano's coaching staff.

And when Schiano left Rutgers to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching position, Fleck and Smith worked together as assistants.

"You get to see a lot of the coaches I've hired, they have Greg Schiano ties,'' said Fleck, whose field- and support-staff also includes former Rutgers staffers Matt Simon, Jeremy Cole, Joe Rossi, Norries Wilson and Arno Rheinberger.

"When you look at Robb Smith, one of the best defensive coordinators, I think, in the country. He kept the system very similar to what we had at Western Michigan. I wanted that Greg Schiano-style defense. We're all kind of from that same defensive tree from Greg. That's where I learned a lot of my defensive football -- from Greg. Robb Smith was really his right-hand man and did a lot of things for us in Tampa, obviously at Rutgers, and then had a lot of success at Arkansas. But (Smith) had some success, had some failing, and I like coaches that have failed and have responded.''

Like Fleck, both Ciarrocca and Smith face their challenges in the first season in their respective posts.

Ciarrocca inherits a unit that ranked 107th nationally in total offense last season. Although the Gophers return seven starters and 18 of 30 offensive letterwinners, Ciarrocca needs to settle on a starting quarterback (fifth-year senior Conor Rhoda and redshirt sophomore Demry Croft are battling for the job in training camp).

"I think Coach Ciarrocca is one of the best offensive coordinators in the country,'' Fleck said. "What he does really well, he has the ability to get the most out of his players by putting them in the best position to be successful.''

Smith has the task of rebuilding a unit that ranked 21st nationally in total defense, and has six returning starters and 21 of 36 letterwinners back from last season.

At Arkansas, Smith's defense ranked 58th nationally in 2015 before falling to 76th last fall.

"I love to have coaches go through a variety of different seasons,'' Fleck said. "If you don't have the right players and you take over a program that hasn't won a lot and all of a sudden you expect to win a championship because you brought the coordinator X's and O's guy in, that's not reality. I've seen a lot of amazing football coaches who are incredible X's and O's guys get fired very quickly. And I've seen a lot of guys the same way who had a ton of success in different years. You have to go with coaches who understand both and know how to handle those situations.''

Rutgers, which lost 34-32 at Minnesota last season, isn't scheduled to face Fleck's Gophers until midway through the 2019 campaign in Piscataway.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.