The latest football coach to express interest in the Rutgers vacancy checks off two important boxes top-university officials are seeking — head-coaching experience and a proven ability to lead teams to bowl games — as they look to make the hire shortly after this Saturday’s season finale.

Steve Addazio has expressed a desire to interview for the Rutgers vacancy, according to two people familiar with the coach’s actions this week, and Rutgers officials are also interested in meeting with Addazio, according to a high-ranking Rutgers official.

Addazio’s potential candidacy for the Rutgers job was first reported on Rutgers Sports Insider, NJ Advance Media’s subscriber-based text-messaging service, on Tuesday. A 60-year old Connecticut native, Addazio has a 56-55 career record in nine seasons as a head coach at Temple and Boston College. Since he arrived at BC in 2013, the Eagles are 43-44 with five bowl appearances in the past six years.

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Unlike the early stages of the coaching search, when former Tennessee coach/current Alabama assistant Butch Jones and former Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano were the two known candidates to interview, Rutgers officials are casting a wide net as they attempt to have a coach in place shortly after the season in order to hit the road recruiting.

Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and Michigan defensive assistant Anthony Campanile were the first two coaches targeted after talks with Greg Schiano broke down Sunday, according to two people with knowledge of the Rutgers search, and Rutgers officials have also expressed a desire to interview former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach/New England Patriots assistant Bret Bielema, according to an industry source.

In a meeting with the Rutgers football team on Tuesday, Hobbs said he would name a coach within a week. Rutgers (2-9) plays its season finale Saturday (3:30 p.m., BTN) at Penn State.

Boston College, meanwhile, travels to Pittsburgh for its regular-season finale on Saturday. A win will send the Eagles to their sixth bowl game in seven seasons — all under Addazio — and perhaps throw a wrench into Rutgers’ timing.

A loss, according to published reports, could put Addazio’s job in jeopardy. Either way, the two people familiar with Addazio’s actions say Addazio would have interest in the Rutgers job regardless of whether his BC job is safe of if he’s fired.

Addazio already has one person with Rutgers ties endorsing him for the Scarlet Knights’ vacancy.

Dino Mangiero is in his fourth season at Mater Dei Prep, a Shore Conference power set to face DePaul on Dec. 7 in the NJSIAA Non-Public, Group 3 championship at Rutgers. Current Rutgers wide receiver Eddie Lewis played for Mangiero at the Middletown-based parochial school.

Mangiero is one of Rutgers’ most accomplished defensive players in program history, recording 204 solo tackles (7th-best in RU history) and 26 sacks (tied-for-3rd in RU history) while starring for the Scarlet Knights in the late 1970s.

“I’ve thought about this (Rutgers job) a lot," Mangiero told NJ Advance Media in a recent interview. “I love the school and I want to see them do well. I think they need a current or a very recent college head coach. I don’t think we can hire another coordinator, another guy with no (head coaching) experience. I think we need a longtime New Jersey recruiter, a guy who has been in the state for 20 years, a guy that knows the coaches, knows the landscape, knows Northeast recruiting very well. The guy has to be successful. He couldn’t be a college head coach from a couple of years ago that failed at a program. We want a guy that’s been successful. I guess the last thing is he does more with less at a place that doesn’t have great facilities, doesn’t have everything in the world, and still finds a way to get his team to bowl games and he wins. That’s Steve Addazio."

Addazio was on the periphery of the Rutgers vacancy after Schiano abruptly left the Scarlet Knights to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach in January 2012. Sources say then-Rutgers AD Tim Pernetti had a phone conversation with Addazio, but there was never a formal interview with the then-Temple coach.

Mangiero said Addazio “checks all those boxes" Rutgers needs to rebuild.

“He’s a current college head coach. He goes to bowl games every year. He’s at a place in a major conference that has academic restrictions, poor facilities, all kinds of issues, in a state that has (only) 10 or 12 Division I players a year. He’s recruited New Jersey for Notre Dame, for Florida, head coach at Temple and Boston College — he’s been in New Jersey for 30 years," Mangiero said.

“That’s the kind of guy I think we need, a guy who does more with less. Steve brings a level of professionalism, a level of toughness that we need. BC has been a squeaky clean program for the last seven years. He teaches the kids not only football but character and how to live their lives. I think at this point in Rutgers history he’s the guy we need, a proven winner that has recruited the state. I’m not knocking anyone else. But I think he’s a good fit."

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