Kyle Flood

Rutgers coach Kyle Flood announced that Jeff Towers is no longer a candidate for a position in the recruiting department. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Jeff Towers, who had been the leading candidate for the vacant Rutgers recruiting coordinator job, has withdrawn his name from consideration for the position, according to coach Kyle Flood.

"Jeff Towers has withdrawn his name from consideration for a job on the Rutgers Football staff," Flood said in a statement. "I am pleased to know Mr. Towers remains eager to help Rutgers Football become an elite Big Ten program."

NJ Advance Media revealed last week that Towers was the anonymous donor who guaranteed the additional compensation in Flood's contract extension last September. Towers pledged a $1 million gift to support the football program last year, two people with knowledge of the contribution told NJ Advance Media.

A business executive with no known football background, Towers' candidacy for the recruiting coordinator position raised eyebrows. Some saw it as an innovative hire, while others raised concerns about potentially adding a major booster to the program's staff.

A Rutgers official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NJ Advance Media last week that top school administrators planned to discuss whether the Towers hiring is going to continue to go forward.

When reached last week by NJ Advance Media, Flood confirmed that Towers was one of the candidates to interview for a position in the recruiting department. Marcus Berry, the University of Illinois' director of player personnel, and E.J. Barthel, a volunteer in Rutgers' recruiting department, have also interviewed for recruiting positions.

There is no word on the status of Berry or Barthel, but neither candidate raised antennas like Towers, an "executive with 30 years of experience leading robust marketing, communications and fundraising programs in some of the largest nonprofit organizations in America," according to his LinkedIn profile.

In an interview with SiriusXM College Sports Nation last Friday, Flood spoke generally about the possibility of making an "outside the box hire" in the recruiting department.

"As the leader of any organization, if you want to perform at a high level, you have to be constantly looking at what's coming next," Flood said. "To roll out the same plan each week in football would never work. To roll out the same game plan for your organization every year wouldn't work. Every year, as the cycle changes for us and we look forward to the next year and we reassess every aspect of our program, we're trying to get better.

"I'm not going to be confined by the traditional model of what a football program, a recruiting department, a video department, an operations department (is). The traditional models are there for a reason, but to not look outside those models at something we could do better, to me, that would be impeding progress, and you don't want to do that."

This is the second a potential hire in the recruiting department that has fallen through this offseason. In January, former Paramus Catholic coach Chris Partridge was expected to be hired to Rutgers' recruiting staff. But Flood rescinded the offer due to concerns over Partridge's handling of the process, according to a person familiar with the team's plans. Partridge eventually landed a job in the recruiting department at the University of Michigan.

Rutgers' recruiting coordinator position has been officially open since Phil Galiano was promoted to special teams coordinator/tight ends coach as part of a staff shakeup last Tuesday.

Dan Duggan may be reached at dduggan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DDuggan21. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.