After watching a top defensive assistant leave for a traditional college football power Thursday, Rutgers coach Chris Ash was pressed on who he will turn to next.

"As a head coach you always have a Plan B because in this profession people come and go all the time,'' Ash told NJ Advance Media in a phone interview shortly after Bill Busch, the Scarlet Knights defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator, joined the LSU staff as safeties coach. "I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of good people so I've always got a Plan B. Now, do those always work out? You don't know, but we have a Plan B.''

Well, it shouldn't take Ash long to figure out who he should call first.

Anthony Campanile, who has spent the past two seasons coaching Boston College's defensive backfield after mentoring various position groups at Rutgers from 2012 through '15, is exactly the home-run hire Ash needs to complete a dramatic makeover to his coaching staff this offseason.

Reeling in Anthony Campanile -- a Rutgers safety/linebacker in the early 2000s who began his coaching career as a student assistant under Greg Schiano -- would be an ironic twist after Ash tapped Nunzio Campanile, the highly successful Bergen Catholic coach who happens to be Anthony's older brother, as his running backs coach this week.

In one fell swoop, Ash could bolster his staff with one of the nation's most highly regarded defensive backs coaches -- Anthony Campanile was named National Defensive Backs Coach of the Year by 247Sports in December -- and impact a rival that heavily recruits New Jersey.

Boston College's 20-player recruiting class announced Wednesday included four highly rated recruits from North Jersey: Pope John XXIII linebacker Nick DeNucci, DePaul linebacker Vinny DePalma, Bergen Catholic quarterback Johnny Langan and St. Joseph-Montvale linebacker Evan Stewart.

In comparison, Rutgers landed just one high school player -- Paramus Catholic defensive back Jarrett Paul -- from a North Jersey parochial school in the 2018 recruiting class.

Anthony Campanile, a Fair Lawn native who coached at Don Bosco Prep from 2007-11, has clearly bolstered Boston College's recruiting efforts in his native Garden State.

Nunzio Campanile is expected to do the same.

The coach of a Bergen Catholic program that won 60 games and a state championship during his eight-year run at the Oradel-based program, Campanile is expected to be the point man in North Jersey after Busch served in that capacity the past two seasons.

"It would be naive of me to say that (Campanile's North Jersey ties) wasn't (attractive), but it's more than that,'' Ash said. "I don't want to hire a guy just because he's going to help in recruiting. I want a guy that will help us coach; help connect with our players on our roster. That was as important to me as anything. (He's) a guy that has had success (and), oh by the way, he does know people in a very fertile area of our state. It had to be someone that checked all of those boxes. For people to think, 'Oh, we just hired Nunzio to go recruit' -- that's not what this was about. That's part of it. But it's more about the total package. There's a lot of guys that can go recruit, but they may not be able to connect and coach and do all of the other things. He can do all of those things. That's why this is a great fit.''

Ash had the chance to retain Anthony Campanile on his initial staff, but opted to cut ties with every coach from the Kyle Flood era. It's believed that Ash offered Campanile a chance to stay on in an off-field role such as recruiting coordinator or director of player personnel, but Campanile opted to remain a position coach by joining the Boston College staff instead.

Would Ash make the bold move to bring Campanile back? For now, he's not offering any hints as to where he turns to next, telling NJ Advance Media on Thursday: "We have to find the right guy.''

For Nunzio Campanile's part, Rutgers' new running backs coach said he's relied on his brother's advice about breaking into the collegiate ranks "over the last few years.''

"We've talked so much over the last few years about things that have worked, things that didn't work in recruiting and coaching,'' Nunzio told NJ Advance Media. "We're kind of always talking about football. We've talked a lot about Rutgers and Anthony obviously played here and coached here. So he has a deep connection to the school. We've always been talking about what are things that would work, what are the right type of (players), all those things.''

He downplayed the notion that the Campanile brothers are about to become rivals on the recruiting trail, saying: "As far as recruiting against each other, I think it would be fun. We had to coach against each other when he was at Don Bosco and I was at Bergen. Ultimately it comes down to it's a game. Everyone is out there having fun, competing hard and working. You separate the family stuff and just go out to do the best job you can for your players.''

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