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, one that’s used at several other programs across the country, but Schiano believed it was the right approach 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 previous stint as defensive coordinator was in takeaways – the Scarlet Knights secured 19 takeaways in 2020, the most since 2012 when he was also the defensive coordinator.
That’s an area Rutgers wasn’t good at this past season – Schiano on Monday actually said the Scarlet Knights were ‘awful’ in that category – with 13 takeaways.
Sparber, a Norwood native, was the linebackers coach at James Madison last season. The Dukes were third nationally with 29 turnovers gained.
“I had talked to Zach probably five years ago when we first came here, and he was at Virginia Tech at the time,” Schiano said. “I remember being very impressed. This guy is a sharp young kid, and he’s had tremendous experience since then working with some great defensive football coaches. I’ve kept an eye on him. Rob brought him up to me and I said, ‘Yeah, I know who he is.’ Talking to him, I had a couple conversations where I was impressed and could feel his energy. Talk about a guy that loves Jersey – he is that guy. He is excited to be home. His family is excited to have him home and he’s going to do a great job for us, recruiting, coaching, the whole deal. “
Together Smith and Sparber will lead a defense that Rutgers revamped over the last few months by bringing in seven transfers.
“I think it’s going to work out well,” Schiano said. “As I noted Rob will call it but Zach is a huge mart of the implementation of the defense, running it, putting the game plan together, and I’m sure there will a lot of discussion even with the two of them on game day.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers football: Why Greg Schiano hired two defensive coordinators
