By Miguel Mike Medina
Pat Flaherty won’t return as Rutgers’ offensive line coach next season.
The 69-year-old Flaherty becomes the fourth coach from the 2025 coaching staff not to return for the 2026 season. The other coaches that won’t return next season are defensive line coach Colin Farrell and co-defensive coordinators Robb Smith and Zach Sparber.
Flaherty’s contract expires in February. Significant changes are coming to the Scarlet Knights program.
It was the second stint between Rutgers and Flaherty. The first came in the 1980s, when Flaherty served as offensive line assistant from 1984 through 1991. He rejoined the Scarlet Knights in 2023.
Flaherty has been around football for a very long time. He has coached many schools and has also shared years of experience working in the NFL.
Flaherty won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, working under head coach Tom Coughlin. He spent 12 seasons with the franchise as the offensive line coach. Aside from the Giants, he served as offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars.
During his time at Wake Forest, Iowa, Washington Redskins, and Chicago Bears, he had the privilege of being the team’s tight ends coach. Flaherty has an unblemished resume. Out of all things he has done, it’s safe to say that offensive line coaching is where he excels at his best.
Where will Flaherty go from here?
The reality is that College Football has changed so much with NIL and the transfer portal. Also, he’s not a young coach. There are no thoughts about him retiring anytime soon. Another job could be on the horizon for him.
If he continues to coach, he should coach for a program where he has the best chance to succeed, unless his primary focus is to teach a young man how to get better not only as a player but as a man. Not every coach is chasing championships. Therefore, it would be interesting to see where Flaherty will be next season.
Things didn’t pan out the way he and the Rutgers program would have wanted, but there’s a tremendous appreciation of what he has done as the Scarlet Knights’ offensive line coach.
The Scarlet Knights will continue to search for new coaches to bring to the program. We are seeing a team that’s looking to write a brand-new script for 2026. Scarlet Knights are in the Big Ten conference, and there’s a lot of intense competition, like Ohio State and Michigan.
The program must figure out ways to compete with those schools and can’t let finances get in the way. It all comes down to recruiting the right players and bringing the right coaches to buy into the system.
