Rutgers Football hires Jim Turner as Offensive Line coach
Rutgers Football has added a veteran presence to the coaching staff with the hiring of Jim Turner as the Scarlet Knights new offensive line coach, source told The Knight Report.
The 60-year old Boston, Massachusetts native will bring nearly 30 years of coaching experience at both the college and professional level, most recently being the offensive line coach / interim HC of the Memphis Showboats in the USFL.
Prior to his USFL stint, Turner went back and forth between the NFL and college ranks. He was the offensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals for multiple seasons with each and spent time with some notable programs such as Temple, Delaware, Boston College, Texas A&M and Texas State.
A big part of his offensive line success has resulted in some really potent rushing attacks at both levels of the game. With the Bengals, he helped lead the team to average over 130+ rushing yards per game and increased their yards per carry by a full yard. During Turner’s time as Texas A&M’s offensive line coach, the 2016-17 offenses gained 2000+ rushing yards and 3,000+ passing yards. A year later in 2018, he helped Trayveon Williams lead the SEC in rushing yards (1,760yds) and touchdowns (18TDs).
Turner has a couple of connections to some former Rutgers coaches, spending time in the NFL and college with guys like Darren Rizzi (Northeastern, Miami Dolphins), and Tem Lukabu (Cincinnati Bengals). However the main connection to the current staff is that he was Delaware’s offensive line coach from 2005-06, at the same time that Kirk Ciarrocca was the Offensive Coordinator.
Turner brings a ton of experience to the Scarlet Knights and not just that, but he’s also developed multiple NFL draft picks at several of his college stints as you can see below.
- 2008: 1st round – OT Gosder Cherilus (Boston College)
- 2011: 1st round – OT Anthony Castonzo (Boston College)
- 2012: 5th round – C Matt Tennant (Boston College)
- 2013: 1st round – OT Luke Joeckel (Texas A&M)
- 2014: 1st round – OT Jake Matthews (Texas A&M)
- 2015: 1st round – OT Cedric Ogbuehi (Texas A&M)
- 2015: 5th round – OG Jarvis Harrison (Texas A&M)
- 2017: 5th round – OT Jermaine Eluemunor (Texas A&M)
- 2019: 2nd round – C Erik McCoy (Texas A&M)
- 2021: 4th round – OT Dan Moore (Texas A&M)
He’s a Northeast native, understands what Kirk Ciarrocca wants to do on offense, and has a long track record of development at both levels of football.
Previous Experience…
- 1988: Braintree High School (Off. Asst.)
- 1989: Kent Rams (OC)
- 1994-95: Northeastern (OL/TE)
- 1996: Northeastern (RB)
- 1997-98: Northeastern (DL)
- 1999: Louisiana Tech (OL)
- 2000-02: Harvard (OL)
- 2003-04: Temple (OL)
- 2005: Delaware (OL)
- 2006: Delaware (OL/AHC)
- 2007: Boston College (OL)
- 2008-11: Texas A&M (OL)
- 2012-13: Miami Dolphins (OL)
- 2016-18: Texas A&M (OL)
- 2019-20: Cincinnati Bengals (OL)
- 2021: Texas State (OL)
- 2022: New Orleans Breakers (OL)
- 2023-24: Memphis Showboats (OL)
- 2025: Memphis Showboats (OL/Interim HC)
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