Augie Hoffman

The new Rutgers coaching staff has been steadily being put together by new head coach Greg Schiano. Earlier this month, it was announced that Augie Hoffmann would join the staff but no actual position role was defined at that time. Scarlet Nation has confirmed that Hoffman will be the running backs coach this season at Rutgers. He takes over the position previously held by Kolby Smith, who spent one season at Rutgers. Prior to being hired at Rutgers, Hoffman served as the head coach at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J. since 2014.

“Augie is one of the most respected coaches in New Jersey,” Schiano said after Hoffman's hire. “As a leader of one of the top programs in the state, he has a proven track record of developing elite talent both on and off the field. Augie is a tireless worker and his reputation among the players and coaches in our state speaks for itself. We look forward to welcoming Augie and his family to Rutgers.”

That means that former interim head coach Nunzio Campanile will coach the tight ends. Campanile coached the tight ends last season before the firing of former head coach Chris Ash. Upon that firing, Campanile took over as both head coach and offensive coordinator, replacing John McNulty in that role.

This will be Campanile’s third season at Rutgers as he coached running backs during his first season in 2018.

Schiano previously added Sean Gleeson as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and Austin Aurich as the offensive line coach. Tiquan Underwood was also brought on to coach the wide receivers.

Schiano took his time putting the staff together as his top priority after being hired was to put together a recruiting class in two weeks. He hit the road with the help of Campanile, secondary coach Fran Brown and some staff holdovers from the prior regime. Since the early signing period in December, Schiano has been steadily adding new coaches. There is only one assistant coaching position that has yet to be announced as Schiano is expected to put the finishing touches on this group by adding a special teams coach.

Schiano spoke previously about putting together his staff and mentioned a key principle.

“One of the key principles in any leadership is alignment. So you want to have the organization aligned, but as you are hiring them, there is not time to have 15 alignment meetings. You kind of do that when you are interviewing. You explain what we’re about so if they do get onboarded, they know that until we can all get together."

Schiano and the staff were present at today's Rutgers vs Nebraska basketball game as a host of recruits were on campus for an unofficial visit.