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Kyle Flood is in the third year of a five-year contract and will be the lowest paid coach in the Big Ten.

(William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

Kyle Flood is entering the third year of a five-year contract with Rutgers, a make-or-break season that will either end with him looking for a new job or getting a lucrative extension. Clearly, he is planning for the latter.

Flood has hired Jimmy Sexton, who Sports Illustrated called “college football’s most powerful agent,” to represent him in contract negotiations with the university, Flood told The Star-Ledger on Tuesday.

“He can help me in some ways that’ll be good for me and good for the program,” Flood said, “and I think ultimately in life you want to be associated with people who do their job at a high level.”

Sexton had 14 college football head coaches as clients in 2013, and most are among the highest profile in the sport. The list includes Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, who faced each other in the BCS title game, and Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Sexton helped use leverage from an offer at Texas to get Saban an extension at Alabama worth $7 million a year, resetting the market for elite college coaches, and this is in a season after the Crimson Tide were stunned by Auburn on a last-second play.

Flood said he was introduced to Sexton “through a third party” and the two men met about two weeks ago. He had been represented by Bryan Harlan, who was former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano’s agent.

“I would tell you that Jimmy Sexton doesn’t represent anyone that he doesn’t believe in,” Flood said. “I feel good about that. Again, I know he doesn’t necessarily need another client, so the fact that he wants to represent me, that was important to me.”

Flood is set to make $950,000 this season, which will be the lowest in the Big Ten, according to a USA Today report. Four Big Ten coaches had salaries in the top 15 nationally last season: Ohio State’s Urban Meyer (No. 6 at $4.608 million annually), Michigan’s Brady Hoke (No. 8, $4.154 million), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (No. 9, $3.985 million) and former Penn State coach Bill O’Brien (No. 14, $3.282 million). O'Brien's replacement at Penn State, James Franklin, will make $4.5 million annually.

Would Sexton engage Rutgers in contract negotiations before the season ends? Flood said he was leaving that up to his new agent, who did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

“The best part about having representation is that they handle that,” he said. “He’s been through this so many times that he’ll have much better understanding of the ebbs and flows of when those things happen.”

Flood spoke to The Star-Ledger on a wide-ranging list of topics, including the upcoming move to the Big Ten, the reasons Rutgers has struggled recruiting locally and his belief that Rutgers is ready to far exceed outside expectations.

For more of that interview, check back on NJ.com on Friday.