Here's why Greg Schiano picked Travis Johansen as Rutgers football's DC

PISCATAWAY – The search took a while.

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano said he spoke to more than 20 different candidates from all levels of football as he sought the Scarlet Knights’ next defensive coordinator.

One of them was South Dakota head coach Travis Johansen.

As he looked more and more into Johansen’s background, the same type of message from those who knew Johansen well kept coming back to Schiano.

“I was super, super deliberate on this because I know how important it is,” Schiano said during a news conference inside the Hale Center on Feb. 12. “I have a really, really gifted group of young players here that need to be developed. One of the things that I kept hearing about Coach (Johansen) was, he is a true developer of men.”

That includes developing both players and assistant coaches.

And that was important to Schiano.

Why Travis Johansen saw Rutgers football as right opportunity

Johansen, who’s led multiple highly ranked defenses at South Dakota and Grand View in a previous stop, now takes over a defense that’s looking to bounce back from an underwhelming 2025 season that culminated with the firings of co-coordinators Robb Smith and Zach Sparber.

Now Johansen’s going from the FCS level to the Big Ten.

“It was an opportunity that I felt my skill set fit the need,” Johansen said. “And I could have an impact with a program that has so much ceiling that it, that the fit made so much sense. And that challenge excited me.”

Schiano hired Johansen more than two months after the Scarlet Knights’ season ended.

What was Greg Schiano looking for in new Rutgers defensive coordinator?

But that amount of time shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise.

Schiano typically takes a methodical approach to hires – and this one came when his attention had to be diverted to multiple areas.

“As I was doing this, I was also retaining our football team and I was also recruiting in the portal,” Schiano said. “We were also, as a staff, recruiting high school kids. So there were multiple things going on. I know a lot of people got a little uptight about the timing of it. I’m not one of those people. I felt like we had to find the right person. However long that took, we were going to find the right person. I’m extremely confident we did.”

Schiano said in December that he was looking for the defensive version of Kirk Ciarrocca, who has full control of the offense and essentially leads the unit with the qualities of a head coach.

He saw that same potential in Johansen.

“Leadership to me is everything,” Schiano said. “You have 11 guys, you can deploy them several different ways. I’ve never been a big worrier about that. It’s about leadership, and can they lead the staff and can they lead the players, and that’s what we have found. So that’s really what kept coming back to me is a consistent, firm, yet caring leader that develops men.”

Travis Johansen’s defenses

Johansen brings a strong track record to Piscataway.

In addition to leading top-ranked defenses, he’s also developed 16 players who have either been drafted into the NFL, received training camp invites or signed as undrafted free agents.

And his year as a head coach impacted how he’ll lead as a coordinator again.

“I think more than anything, it really galvanized the way I thought about team football as a defensive coach,” Johansen said. “How you look at how you balance with an offense, how you need to provide schemes that prepare you all year long versus just what might be successful on Saturdays in the fall.”

What will Johansen’s defense look like at Rutgers?

“Incredibly sound, incredibly disciplined,” Johansen said. “A defense that’s going to show a lot of mastery in what they’re doing. A very connected group, a group that plays the game with physicality and effort, passion that you want to see on a field.”

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Why Greg Schiano picked Travis Johansen as Rutgers football’s DC