Rutgers OL Coach Pat Flaherty Will Not Return Next Season

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano announced that offensive line coach Pat Flaherty will not return next season. His contract is set to expire at the end of this year, and it will not be renewed, Schiano announced. He was the Scarlet Knights’ offensive line coach for the last three seasons and served as a consultant for the team in 2022.

When he took over as offensive line coach at Rutgers in 2023, the unit made a huge jump on the Big Ten stage. In 2022, the offensive line was one of the worst units on the team. In 2023, the offensive line was a key part of a much-improved Rutgers offense. In 2023, the guys up front for the Knights only surrendered an average of 1.08 sacks per game, which was good for the 11th best nationally. Offensive tackle Holling Pierce, guard Bryan Felter, and center Gus Zilinskas all earned Big Ten Honors in 2023 as well. Since then, other Rutgers offensive linemen have made great strides under Flaherty, including guard Kwabena Asamoah, who earned an all-Big Ten honorable mention two years in a row.

His units cleared the way for star running backs such as Kyle Monangai and Antwan Raymond as they had three 1,000-yard rushing seasons in a row, while serving as the protectors for Athan Kalikamanis as he became the first Rutgers quarterback in a long while to reach the 3,000 passing yards mark in a single season.

His total career as a football coach spans 47 seasons. He first started as the head coach of Delone Catholic High School in McSherrystown, PA, before making the leap to college football. He would spend the next 19 years as a college coach, spending time with Penn State, Rutgers, East Carolina, Wake Forest, and Iowa before being called up to the NFL. He met Schiano during his first stint at Rutgers, as Schiano was a graduate assistant on the Knights’ coaching staff.

He joined the then-Washington Redskins as an assistant coach and would land on the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, San Fransico 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Miami Dolphins coaching staffs before deciding to retire from coaching in the NFL. He was a two-time Super Bowl champion during his stint as the offensive line coach of the Giants. From 2019-2021, he would float around between Penn State and the Giants as a consultant before joining Rutgers in 2022.

The 69-year-old coach will now explore what’s next for him, while the Knights will be looking for a new offensive line coach for the 2026 season.