In his quest to bolster the Rutgers men's soccer coaching staff, Dan Donigan was set to offer a job to a former team captain who he described as "fearless, relentless, an extremely hard worker and an incredibly loyal person.''

As it turned out, Paulie Calafiore was set to go on "Big Brother 18'' instead.

A Howell native who started in 49 of the 54 games he played in from 2007 through 2011, Calafiore is one of 16 contestants living in a house outfitted with dozens of cameras and microphones recording their every move, 24 hours a day, for a popular reality TV show.

Each week, one of the contestants is voted out and the last remaining housemate will receive $500,000. Calafiore's brother, Cody, finished as the show's runner-up two years ago.

"I know Cody and Paulie very well,'' Donigan said. "Cody played soccer at Temple and tried to transfer to us at one point, but it was when I was first starting and we couldn't make it work because of the transition. They're both energetic, good guys with great personalities. They're perfect for this kind of reality show.''

A three-time captain on the Howell High School soccer team in the mid-2000s, Paulie Calafiore arrived at Rutgers in 2007 and played his first three seasons under former coach Bob Reasso. He battled an assortment of injuries before he broke through under Donigan's watch in the 2010 and '11 seasons.

"He was a very good player,'' Donigan said of Calafiore, a 5-foot-9, left defensive back for the Scarlet Knights. "He was all about competition and winning, and obvious loyal as anything. He was a guy we never even thought about taking off the field. He was just a warrior. He was a big reason why we were able to get to the Sweet 16 that year (in 2011).''

Following his standout Rutgers career, Calafiore had a brief stint in the professional soccer ranks before focusing his energies on personal training.

During his introduction on the "Big Brother 18'' premiere Wednesday night, Calafiore, 27, said he runs "a high-level athletic gym out of Freehold, New Jersey, where we develop athletes from start to finish.''

"He's been training soccer players and teams down in Monmouth County, and he wanted to come aboard with us and then study in exercise physiology,'' Donigan said. "Then all of a sudden we had lost communication because, I guess, when you get cast on that show, you're not allowed to have communication with anybody. So he literally fell off the face of the earth for me. When I heard he was getting cast for the show, I did try to reach out to him but obviously his phone went right to voice mail. It was funny the way it played out.''

With his team set to open training camp Aug. 9 in preparation for a 2016 campaign that begins Aug. 28, Donigan isn't closing the door on bringing Calafiore to his staff.

"He's an incredibly loyal person, and that's why I was looking to bring him on staff because loyalty is what it's all about with this staff,'' the Scarlet Knights' seventh-year head coach said. "Bringing Paulie on would've been a no-brainer. I don't even know how long the show goes, but once it's done hopefully we can continue the conversation and bring him on staff this year.''

While the houseguests will spend a record 99 days inside the house, Donigan isn't about to minimize Calafiore's chances to advance to the end and win the grand prize.

"Paulie has one of the most unbelievable personalities and this is right up his alley,'' he said. "From what I know of the show, he'll either get thrown off right away or he'll win the whole thing. He just has that dynamic of a personality. He's just an unbelievably loyal, hard-working, energetic guy. If you talked to any of the guys from our team back then, they'd all say Paulie would be perfect for that Big Brother (show).''

During a premiere show that drew 6.1 million total viewers, according to TVline.com, Calafiore wore a Rutgers soccer shirt and a scarlet hat with a block R. He also mentioned the fact that he served as a captain at Rutgers during his on-screen introduction.

"I'm pretty confident that he'll have Rutgers all over the place,'' Donigan said. "But that's Paulie. It's pretty cool. It's not often that you see somebody you had the privilege to coach on one of these national reality shows.''

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