Over the past five years, Ed Bright has built Sports U/Team Izod into perhaps New Jersey's premier AAU basketball program, pumping out top recruits such as Karl-Anthony Towns (Kentucky), Quenton DeCosey (Temple), Wade Baldwin (Vanderbilt) and DeAndre Bembry (St. Joseph's).

Bright's program has sent dozens of players to top colleges across the nation, but there's one school in particular that hasn't landed any of them recently: Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights now have an opening atop their basketball program after Eddie Jordan was fired Thursday following three disappointing seasons. Bright, the founder and chief advancement officer of Sports U, said the school's next coach must mend relationships with New Jersey's top AAU and high school programs if Rutgers basketball has any hopes of emerging from the doldrums.

"Whoever the next coach is, he needs to go and hire one of the best high school coaches in the state to come on his staff and he needs to hire one of the best AAU coaches in the state to be on his staff," Bright said. "That's his first two moves. He needs to hire, for example, (Linden High coach) Phil Colicchio. He needs to go see if he can get (St. Anthony coach) Bob Hurley. He needs to go see if he can get (Roselle Catholic coach) Dave Boff. Someone who understands what these high school kids are thinking, that's had to manage them."

Bright also said a crucial task for the next Rutgers coach is to "bring us together," meaning the state's top AAU and high school coaches, who are currently engaged in what Bright described as a "power struggle" over who has the most influence on players. The key, Bright added, is having the new coach convince the local power brokers that Rutgers can become a force if they work together and the best players from New Jersey stay home.

It hasn't happened recently: Bright said the last Sports U player to go to Rutgers was Eli Carter in 2011. He played for Jordan's predecessor, Mike Rice.

New Jersey is home to many of the nation's elite high school programs -- St. Anthony, Roselle Catholic, St. Benedict's and the Patrick School, to name a few -- and top AAU programs -- Sports U, the Paterson-based Playaz and the legendary Roadrunners of Sandy Pyonin. Bright said if the right Rutgers coach is ever able to consistently land players from those programs, the results would be significant.

"You would be an NCAA championship contender every year," Bright said. "Whether the kid is a one-and-done, or whether the kid is going to be spending four years getting a degree. You should be able to do it all right there in Piscataway. Absolutely."

Bright added the next coaching staff must do a better job on the recruiting trail. While he declined to denigrate Rutgers' recruiting efforts under Jordan, Bright said in-state rival Seton Hall has done a far better job establishing relationships with top programs, coaches and players.

"Not even close," Bright said. "Do I know (Seton Hall assistant coach) Shaheen Holloway? Sometimes I think Shaheen lives with me. Shaheen's there. I don't know a coach that does a better job of being there than Kevin Willard and Shaheen Holloway. That whole staff -- those guys are in the street. They're at games, they're on the recruiting circuit, they're calling you. They do their homework. And it wasn't close."

Bright also said upgrading facilities at Rutgers is important, considering top recruits are used to traveling the country and playing in large arenas. Rutgers currently is undertaking a massive $100 million initiative called "R Big Ten Build" to improve the school's athletic facilities to Big Ten quality.

As for top candidates for the Rutgers job, Bright said presumed frontrunner and former St. Benedict's coach Danny Hurley would be a great choice. Bright also tossed out a few other names: Rider coach Kevin Baggett and Temple coach Fran Dunphy.

Bright said Baggett is "a great guy" and that he "would be a good guy dealing with the urban athletes." Bright added that Dunphy is highly respected in coaching circles and has strong recruiting ties in New Jersey, where he's nabbed top players such as DeCosey and Josh Brown -- both Sports U players -- and Ewing star Trey Lowe.

"Rutgers has also got to be able to stand for what they already stand for, which is high academics," Bright said. "They are a great academic school. They have a great sense of community. They're spread out over a great geographic footprint. And they've got to be able to sell the Big Ten. I mean, they've got some really going things going for them right now. And then you've got to build a winning culture."

Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.