D-line coach Panagos to miss Rutgers' season with knee issue

Rutgers defensive line coach Jim Panagos will miss the season because he needs knee surgery.

Coach Greg Schiano disclosed the news Thursday, two days before the Scarlet Knights open their Big Ten Conference season with a game at Michigan State.

Schiano, who is starting his second stint at Rutgers, said Panagos has been in a lot of pain and decided to have his knee replaced. There was no word on when the surgery would happen.

Pangos can continue to recruit and mentor the linemen but he cannot coach them.

Schiano said defensive assistant coach Charlie Noonan was named the interim defensive line coach. Graduate assistant Jamaal Westerman will help him. Both played at Rutgers for Schiano.

Panagos, who finished his playing career at Maryland in 1993, also is in his second coaching stint at Rutgers. He was the Scarlet Knights' defensive line coach from 2012-15. He then spent two seasons at Temple and last year at Minnesota.

Noonan played his last game at Rutgers in 2010. He was a graduate assistant with the team in 2013-14 and most recently coached at Lehigh and Holy Cross.

Westerman, who was at Rutgers until 2008, played in the NFL from 2009-13 and in the CFL from 2015-18. This is his first year as a graduate assistant.

“If there is a silver lining here, we have two guys who will be coaching the D-line that played in our system and understand our culture and both of them were trained by Jim," Schiano said. "So certainly we lose something, but it's as good a situation as a replacement plan as you could have, I think.”

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