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Noah K. Murray | USA TODAY Sports

Calling all coordinators

Rutgers coach Chris Ash needs to hire a new offensive coordinator following Drew Mehringer's departure for a co-coordinator position at Texas. Mehringer was earning $450,000 per year, but Rutgers might need to go higher to make a big splash and ease the sting of a seventh straight one-and-done offensive play-caller.

With that in mind, here's an updated list of candidates keeping in mind personal ties to Ash, experience and familiarity with a spread offense Ash has shown that he is not adverse to hiring without ties to New Jersey and promoting someone to a career-high position on the ladder.

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NEW: Brian Wright

Current position: Toledo offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

Wright appears to be gaining steam, and it's no surprise considering he previously held the same O.C. position at Florida Atlantic, where he worked under Charlie Partridge, the recently fired FAU coach who is close friends with Rutgers coach Chris Ash. In his first season at Toledo, Wright has the Rockets ranked fourth nationally in total offense, averaging a whopping 529.8 yards-per-game for a 9-3 squad that finishes its campaign in the Camellia Bowl on Saturday. Wright runs a similar no-huddle, fast-paced spread to the offense Ash favors.

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AP

Jerry Kill

Current job: Kansas State associate athletic director for administration

UPDATE: Sources indicate that Ash and Kill have spoken, but it is unclear if Kill interviewed for the position or if he was serving as a consultant.

Kill was named Big Ten Coach of the Year at Minnesota in 2014 but retired in the middle of the 2015 season due to health concerns. He wasn't out of work long, joining Kansas State's athletic department in March. Does he want back on the sidelines? He hasn't been an offensive coordinator since 1993 at Pittsburg State, with five head coaching stops since.

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Texas A & M Athletics

Noel Mazzone

Current job: Texas A & M offensive coordinator

Mazzone earns more than double what Mehringer was making so any talks likely would require a Rutgers record-setting investment. But Mazzone, who spent three years (2006-08) as a wide receivers coach for the Jets, is a national name in spread circles and several New Jersey high school football teams run his trademarked "Nzone Offense."

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Pac-12 Networks

Taylor Mazzone

Current position: Texas A & M quality control coach

Noel's son Taylor is considered a rising star in the profession, having worked with Tim Tebow, Brock Osweiler, Robert Griffin III, Christian Ponder and Brett Hundley either in jobs at Arizona State and UCLA or in individual NFL Draft training. Ash hired special teams coordinator Vince Okruch and defensive backs coach Bill Busch from quality control positions at Ohio State.

Tyalor was quarterbacks coach at UCLA before following his dad to Texas A & M.

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Go PSU TV

Matt Limegrover

Current position: Penn State offensive line coach

Limegrover spent 16 seasons under Kill at Minnesota, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois and Emporia State. The Pennsylvania native was the offensive coordinator for five seasons at Minnesota and helped turn around the Penn State offensive from its Big Ten-worst spot in 2015.

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File photo

UPDATE: Phil Longo

UPDATE: Longo, who previously served as Sam Houston State offensive coordinator, is headed to Ole Miss to serve as the team's offensive play-caller, according to a FoxSports.com report on Thursday.

The Rowan graduate from Parsippany employs an up-tempo offense that has made him a candidate for the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss. That's a photo of him as The Star-Ledger Morris County Coach of the Year in 1998, when he was at Parsippany Hills High School.

Sam Houston State leads the FCS ranks in total offense (547.3 yards per game) and is No. 2 in scoring offense (49.5 points per game).

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Wisconsin Badgers

Thomas Hammock

UPDATED: Ash and Hammock spoke about a potential fit last season, as reported by ScarletNation.com and confirmed by NJ.com. Hammock was responsible for getting All-Big Ten halfback Corey Clement from Glassboro High School to Wisconsin.

Current position: Baltimore Ravens running backs coach

Before heading to the NFL ranks three years ago, the Jersey City native coached at his alma mater Northern Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. He was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator for the Badgers when Ash was coaching on the other side of the ball.

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UNH Athletics

Ryan Carty

UPDATE: Carty's name is a popular with Rutgers fans and he is well-respected by the state's North Jersey high school football powerbrokers.

Current position: New Hampshire offensive coordinator

Carty's name comes up for this opening every year because it makes so much sense even after the era of Kyle Flood, who was an offensive line coach when he played quarterback at Delaware. Carty's father, Kevin Sr., is a former Rutgers assistant who popularized the spread offense at Somerville High School before its time, and Ryan has been running it with success.

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South Carolina Gamecocks

G.A. Mangus

UPDATE: Magnus would jump at the chance to return to the Northeast but a strike against him could be a 2011 arrest and suspension for public urination that pops up at the top of Google.

Current position: South Carolina State offensive coordinator

Mangus spent eight seasons as Steve Spurrier's quarterbacks coach at South Carolina and didn't go very far after a regime change. He resurfaced as South Carolina State but has Pennsylvania roots.

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Michael Hickey | Getty Images

Darrell Hazell

Current position: None

Hazell was fired in October during a fourth straight losing season as head coach at Purdue, a job he landed after a successful run at Kent State. The Cinnaminson native was a top assistant for three years at Rutgers under Greg Schiano before spending seven years at Ohio State under Jim Tressel.

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JMU Sports

Brett Elliott

Current job: Texas State offensive coordinator

Elliott replaced Mehringer once before, filling his shoes as James Madison's offensive coordinator in 2015. The former Mississippi State assistant followed head coach Everett Withers -- Ash's predecessor as defensive coordinator at Ohio State -- to Texas State, which will visit Rutgers in 2018. Texas State's offense ranks No. 126 nationally -- two spots head of Rutgers -- in total offense in 2016.

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Utah State Football

Luke Wells

Current job: Utah State Co-offensive coordinator

Working for his brother, head coach Matt Wells, Luke has four years of experience as co-offensive coordinator, adding the title of quarterbacks coach in 2016. The Aggies went 25-14 from 2013-15 before stumbling to a 3-9 mark with the No. 96-ranked total offense. Luke and Ash were colleagues at Iowa State in 2009.

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Ethan Miller | Getty Images

Barney Cotton

Current position: UNLV offensive coordinator

Cotton is in his third stint as an offensive coordinator, after handling the duties for Nebraska in 2003 and Iowa State from 2004-06, where he overlapped with a young Ash. He was the interim head coach for the Holiday Bowl after Nebraska fired Bo Pelini in 2014. UNLV finished No. 70 in the nation in total offense.

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BleedTechBlue.com

Todd Fitch

Current position: Louisiana Tech offensive coordinator

Louisiana Tech is the fourth stop as an offensive coordinator for Fitch, who previously held the job at East Carolina, South Florida and Boston College. After Fitch's hiring last offseason, Louisiana Tech finished with the No. 8-ranked offense, though head coach Skip Holtz likes to call his own plays. Fitch spent three seasons at the quarterbacks coach at Iowa State when Ash was on the staff.

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UT Sports Football

Zach Azzanni

Current position: Tennessee wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator

Azzanni is an Urban Meyer protege, spending two years with the coaching great as a graduate assistant at Bowling Green and another year as wide receivers coach at Florida. He spent one year as Western Kentucky's offensive coordinator and crossed paths with Ash at Wisconsin, where he again was in charge of wide receivers.

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Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Why fans should temper expectations

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NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

LISTEN: Ep. 8 of Rutgers football podcast