Just when you thought Chris Ash had completed his Rutgers staff heading into his third season, the Scarlet Knights head coach was forced to begin another coaching search.

On a day when he announced the hire of Bergen Catholic head coach Nunzio Campanile as his running backs coach, Ash lost a top defensive assistant to a national power.

Bill Busch, who last offseason was promoted to the title of co-defensive coordinator to go with his role as defensive backs coach, is joining the LSU coaching staff as a safeties coach.

"I would like to thank Bill for his contributions and all of his efforts in the first two years here,'' Ash said. "He did a great job. I wish him nothing but the best of luck in his new job at LSU.''

Busch's hiring at LSU means four of Rutgers' nine assistant coaches from last season are no longer a part of Ash's staff.

Offensive coordinator Jerry Kill retired for health reasons and was replaced by John McNulty.

Shane Burnham

Wide receivers coach Jafar Williams resigned to join Big Ten-rival Maryland, his alma mater. He was replaced by Campanile.

And now Ash will be on the market for another assistant coach to presumably mentor the defensive backs.

In his first offseason, Ash saw offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer leave for Texas, running backs coach Zak Kuhr leave for Texas State and assistant defensive backs coach Aaron Henry leave for North Carolina State.

That's seven new assistants in two years if you're keeping score. While the shakeup can be viewed as a sign of the times across the college football landscape, Ash has routinely pivoted by hiring a highly regarded replacement.

"It is what it is -- they've had opportunities to continue to get better elsewhere,'' Ash said. "You lose good players every year. What are you going to do? You have to replace them?''

As for where he turns next, Ash said he has a short list prepared but indicated that no hiring is imminent.

"As a head coach you always have a Plan B because in this profession people come and go all the time,'' he said. "I've been fortunate enough to be around a lot of good people so I've always got a Plan B. Now, do those always work out? You don't know, but we have a Plan B. Nothing's ever going to be quick (hiring-wise). We have to find the right guy, but we're three weeks away from the start of spring practice, too, so (the search) is not something that's going to go long.''

In addition to having a voice in the defensive game-plans last season, Busch was widely considered to be one of the program's top recruiters, primarily covering North Jersey.

Campanile, a fixture on the North Jersey high school football scene for nearly two decades as the Athletic Director/offensive coordinator at Don Bosco Prep and then as the highly successful Bergen Catholic head coach, is expected to primarily recruit North Jersey's fertile recruiting turf.

Busch's move comes less than a year after he was given a $75,000 raise, which increased his annual salary to $300,000. That was in addition to his promotion to co-defensive coordinator.

"Bill got that title because of the job he had done,'' Ash said. "Nothing changed from a responsibility standpoint on our staff. Bill was rewarded for doing a good job with his players and doing a good job in recruiting.''

In other moves within the coaching staff, Ash is reassigning Lester Erb to wide receivers coach after he mentored the running backs last year and promoted director of player personnel Toby Neinas to outside linebackers coach after the NCAA permitted programs to add a 10th assistant this offseason.

"(Wide receiver) is a position he played in college and we're excited about (Erb) taking over that room,'' Ash said. "Coach Neinas will still have some (responsibility) with special teams and specialists, but will also take on the responsibility of coaching our outside linebackers.''

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