PISCATAWAY, N.J. — With a defense that is among the best in the Big Ten and a Rutgers football team that is already bowl-eligible, it isn’t far-fetched to think that Joe Harasymiak could be in demand. The Rutgers defensive coordinator certainly has impressed this season and is building quite the resume for whatever the next step is.
Harasymiak is now in his second year as the Rutgers defensive coordinator. He spent the previous three years at Minnesota, working his way up from safeties coach to the Big Ten program’s defensive coordinator.
Prior to that, he spent eight years at Maine, the last four of which were as the program’s head coach. In 2018, his final season at Maine, he took the FCS program to the national semifinals.
On Tuesday, head coach Greg Schiano was asked about his concerns about Harasymiak potentially leaving the program to once again become a head coach. With the success of the program as a whole and the defense’s significant role in this season, it is certainly conceivable that Harasymiak would attract head coaching interest and offers.
“Well, I’m always concerned about that, but I’m also hopeful for them,” Schiano said.
“I know that that’s ultimately their goal, but you know, when you have good staff, people, you try to take care of them, take care of their families, make sure it’s a good work environment for them. But my hope is that they will become head coaches, if that’s what they want. But we’ll make sure that it’s going to have to be a great job for Joe to leave.”
Rutgers (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten) is fourth in the Big Ten in total defense and fifth in scoring defense.
Prior to joining Rutgers, both Harasymiak and offensive coordinator [autotag]Kirk Ciarrocca[/autotag] were coordinators at Minnesota.