Report: Rutgers to hire Minnesota's Kirk Ciarrocca as new offensive coordinator

Rutgers is expected to hire Minnesota and former Penn State offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca to the same position under Greg Schiano, according to a report from NJ Advance Media.

Ciarrocca previously coached at Rutgers from 2008-10 under Schiano, during his first stint, and former head coach Kyle Flood. As the new Rutgers offensive coordinator, Ciarrocca replaces the fired Sean Gleeson, who was let go midseason as Rutgers hit an offensive sputter.

The former Gophers assistant coach worked under P.J. Fleck, also a former Rutgers assistant under Schiano during his first stint with the Scarlet Knights, for the 2022 season, as well as 2017-19.

Ciarrocca ended up at Penn State in 2020, but ended up at West Virginia as an assistant in 2021.

“On Thursday, a special meeting of the University’s Board of Governors to ‘act on a personnel matter’ was scheduled for Saturday, January 7,” NJ.com’s Steve Politi wrote. “If the contract is approved at the meeting as expected, it would mark the end of a saga that lasted 43 days from the conclusion of the 2022 season and 89 days from when Schiano fired Sean Gleeson from the position.”

Ciarrocca started his coaching career in 1990 at Temple as a graduate assistant. He had stints at Western Connecticut State, Delaware Valley, Princeton, Penn and Delaware before ending up at Rutgers in 208 as the co-offensive coordinator.

Following his departure from Rutgers after 2010, Ciarrocca coached at Richmond, back to Delaware, Western Michigan and eventually to Minnesota.

Following an uneven 4-3 season during the COVID shortened year, Penn State head coach James Franklin opted to pivot towards Mike Yurcich as the new offensive coordinator.

Rutgers started the season 3-0 before finishing 4-8 during the 2022 season. The Scarlet Knights went undefeated in non-conference play but struggled mightily in the Big Ten, aside from a win over Indiana.

The offense notably struggled under Gleeson amid a shuffle between quarterbacks, particularly the usage of former four-star quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, who enrolled at Rutgers in 2021 by foregoing his senior year of high school.

As a member of the Class of 2021, Wimsatt was a four-star prospect out of Owensboro (Ky.) High, according to the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 27 quarterback in the class and the No. 267 overall prospect in the class.

With the addition of Ciarrocca, Rutgers hopes it’s a long-standing relationship as he is now the 13th offensive coordinator over the last 14 seasons.