Andy Buh to face former team as survivor of Rutgers coach firings

A football team without a head coach or an offensive coordinator would seemingly leave the defensive coordinator as the highest remaining authority.

For Rutgers, the decision to make Nunzio Campanile the interim head coach obviously negates defensive coordinator Andy Buh from having top authority, but he is the last man standing from the top of the original coaching regime after Sunday’s firings of former head coach Chris Ash and offensive coordinator John McNulty.

Buh, who was originally hired based on his relationship with the now-terminated Ash, is now left with the task of leading a defense coming off a 52-0 loss through a turbulent week … to face his former team.

The absence of Ash, who was a defensive-oriented head coach, does leave Buh as now the largest defensive authority on the coaching staff as the young Campanile is tasked with the offense.

It has not been a fruitful season for the Rutgers defense in Buh’s first season, giving up 30 points in each of its three straight losses.

The attention is now turned to an offense, in Maryland, coming off a shutout to Penn State. He will look to keep the offensive struggles of his former team going in a game that could play a major role in his job status this off-season.

It will not be the same offense that Buh coached alongside last year in Maryland. A staff shakeup more all-encompassing than Rutgers most recent changes, sent Buh and all Maryland coaches in 2018 away from College Park.

The offense Buh prepares for will feature many of the same players, but under an unrecognizable regime of coaches and coordinators.

Saturday’s game against the Terrapins is both an opportunity and a game of significant importance for Buh and the defense who may feel added pressure to have a productive week after the recent firings. It is an opportunity because Maryland comes in as arguably the least potent offense the Knights have faced in the last three weeks.

It might be the most important opportunity Buh will ever have as Rutgers defensive coordinator.