The Rutgers football team made a significant financial investment in its first Big Ten coaching staff, and it begins with Ralph Friedgen.

The former Maryland head coach, who was lured back after three years out of the game, signed a two-year contract worth $500,000 per year to be Rutgers offensive coordinator, according to information provided by the athletic department upon request.

Fellow new hire Bob Fraser (linebackers/special teams coordinator) and recently promoted defensive coordinator Joe Rossi both are earning $300,000 per year for two years. New wide receivers coach Ben McDaniels’ two-year deal is worth $200,000 annually.

Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood will earn $950,000 before bonuses in his third year of a five-year contract signed Jan. 30, 2012.

“I think one of the many things that are exciting as we turn the page towards next season is the university giving me the resources to go out and get the finest coaches in football and the finest minds,” Flood said last week. “I think when you have resources like that it can lead to continuity. When it leads to staff continuity, there’s no doubt that helps you in recruiting.”

Rutgers hired offensive coordinator Ron Prince and defensive coordinator Dave Cohen last offseason on two-year deals with plans to pay $275,000 in base salary for 2014-15. Cohen was fired after the season and landed as an assistant coach at Wake Forest and Prince was hired away by the NFL’s Detroit Lions.

Rossi earned $200,000 last season as special teams coordinator.

Only Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio State and Michigan State had top-paid assistants making more than $500,000 last season, according to a USA Todays database which includes numbers for all Big Ten schools except Penn State and Northwestern.

Rutgers paid its assistants $1.805 million last season, according to USA Today, which would have ranked last in the Big Ten.