Scenes from Rutgers football’s Senior Day walk
Scenes from Rutgers football’s Senior Day walk
PISCATAWAY – One is a young, up-and-coming coach and the other is a veteran defensive coordinator who’s now in his third different stint with the Rutgers football team.
Together, Zach Sparber and Robb Smith will lead the Scarlet Knights’ defense after coach Greg Schiano hired them this offseason to replace Joe Harasymiak, now the head coach at the University of Massachusetts.
It’s an interesting setup but one Schiano believed was the right one after going through the hiring process and identifying candidates.
He was plenty familiar with Smith, who was on his staff with the Scarlet Knights during Schiano’s first stint in Piscataway, then rejoined him with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the linebackers coach. Smith then was Rutgers’ defensive coordinator in 2020-21 before moving on to Duke in the same position.
That’s where Smith got to know Sparber, a Bergen Catholic graduate who at the time was a defensive graduate assistant with the Blue Devils.
“Really took my time in this process and there was a lot of twists and turns,” Schiano said during a news conference Monday at the Hale Center. “I think we ended up exactly where we needed to. I think both of those guys, they have worked together before at Duke. They were really complementary of each either, and I said let’s get them both and that’s what we did.”
Schiano made it clear that Smith will call the defensive plays for the Scarlet Knights, who open up spring practices on Friday leading up to the team’s annual Scarlet-White Game on April 26 at SHI Stadium.
“Rob has more experience calling it, and that’s the way we’ll do it,” Schiano said.
Smith spent the past two seasons as an analyst at Penn State.
One particular area Rutgers thrived in during Smith’s…
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Publish date : 2025-03-24 19:15:00
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