Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, the Rutgers softball team has struggled to a tune of a 28-61 (.315) mark in conference play and an 86-121 (.415) record overall.

Five days after completing a 19-31 campaign that included a 4-16 Big Ten record, Rutgers athletics director Pat Hobbs on Thursday announced a change in leadership in the softball program.

Hobbs opted not to renew the contract of Jay Nelson, the fourth-longest tenured Rutgers coach after taking over the softball program in 2006.

"Jay Nelson has served Rutgers and its student-athletes well during his tenure as head coach,'' Hobbs said in a statement. "We are grateful for his contributions, but we believe it's time for new leadership. We wish coach Nelson the best in his future endeavors.''

Nelson was in the final season of a three-year contract that expires June 30. While his base salary was set at $91,250, Nelson earned $92,908 in 2017, according to university payroll records.

Hobbs said current assistant Jay Miller will take over as head coach on an interim basis and a national search for the next head coach will begin immediately. Miller, who just completed his second season as Rutgers' associate head coach, is a 2008 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee with more than 1,000 career wins, two Women's College World Series appearances, 13 NCAA Tournament trips and three conference championships on his resume from head-coaching stints at Mississippi State, Missouri and Oklahoma City University.

While leading hitter Rebecca Hall (.387, 8 home runs, 41 RBI) graduates, seven of Rutgers' nine regular starting position players and all five pitchers are eligible to return next season.

The next head coach will look to lead Rutgers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994 and into the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2016 after the team failed to qualify for the 12-team field in 2017 and '18.

A 1974 St. Olaf College (Minnesota) graduate, Nelson compiled a 279-354 (.441) record over 12 seasons.

After guiding Rutgers to the second-most wins in program history (29) and the most conference wins (11) since 1990 in its first Big Ten campaign in 2015, Nelson oversaw a program that compiled records of 24-33, 14-37 and 19-31 over the past three seasons.

Hobbs is also in the midst of a search for a women's gymnastics coach after opting not to renew the contract of seven-year head coach Louis Levine on April 10.

Since taking over as Rutgers AD in late November 2015, Hobbs has dismissed men's basketball coach Eddie Jordan, women's swimming coach Petra Martin, Levine and Nelson. He has hired football coach Chris Ash, men's basketball coach Steve Pikiell and women's rowing coach Justin Price, and promoted women's tennis coach Hilary Ritchie and women's swimming co-head coaches Fred Woodruff and Jon Maccoll.

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