Three former Rutgers coaches who were out of work in 2016 following the dismissal of Kyle Flood and all his assistants have resurfaced in smaller roles at Big Ten rival Minnesota.

Norries Wilson, who was Flood's assistant head coach and running backs coach, is the latest to join P.J. Fleck's staff, as first reported last week by CoachingSearch.com. He is the Director of Player Development, overseeing the day-to-day operation for the football student-athletes and working in conjunction with the coaching, recruiting, academic and communication staffs.

For Wilson, it's an opportunity to return to his alma mater, where he was a captain and two-year starter in the 1980s. He also wrestled for the Gophers and broke into coaching as a graduate assistant on the football staff in 1989-90.

Wilson, a former head coach at Columbia, was on Flood's staff for all four seasons and went 1-2 as interim head coach during his boss' suspension in the fall of 2015.

Joe Rossi, who spent two seasons as Flood's special teams coordinator and two as his defensive coordinator, will be a quality control assistant for the Gophers.

Rossi fared well as special teams coordinator -- Rutgers blocked a nation-best eight eight kicks in 2012 and scored four special teams touchdowns in 2013 -- but miserably as defensive coordinator. The Scarlet Knights had two of the three worst seasons in school history in terms of yards allowed in 2014 and 2015.

Jeremy Cole spent eight seasons as a strength and conditioning coach at Rutgers under Greg Schiano and Flood, starting out as an assistant before taking over the program under Flood's watch. The Scarlet Knights broke 19 then-records in the weight room during the 2015 offseason.

When Rutgers coach Chris Ash replaced Flood, he opted to bring in an entirely new staff of assistants, including his most important hire -- strength and conditioning coordinator Kenny Parker.

Rutgers had to pay buyouts to all fired assistants if they remained unemployed while the length of their contracts continued.

Anthony Campanile (Boston College) was the first of Flood's on-field assistants to land a new gig. Jim Panagos, who spent 2016 as a defensive consultant with Pittsburgh, will be back on the sidelines with Temple in 2017.

Fleck, who was Rutgers wide receivers coach in 2010-11, has surrounded himself with other former colleagues from Piscataway.

The former Western Michigan coach brought offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca -- a candidate for the 2016 Broyles Award -- and wide receivers coach Matt Simon along with him when he made the move.

Ciarrocca was Rutgers offensive coordinator in 2009-10, while Simon was at Rutgers working in player development and coaching wide recevers from 2012-13.

Fleck's big addition was landing former Rutgers and Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith to call plays for his defense. Smith left Rutgers after the 2012 season -- when the defense fueled the run to a Big East co-championship -- to join Schiano with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While the New England Patriots are "Rutgers North," Minnesota could earn the nickname "Rutgers West." The schools don't meet again until 2019 in Piscataway.

Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook