Joe Susan is in his fifth season back on the Rutgers football staff in 2024 and serves as special assistant to the head coach. The New Jersey native has over 40 years of experience at the collegiate level, including nine as head coach at Bucknell and nine on head coach Greg Schiano's previous staff in Piscataway.
• The Scarlet Knights showed continued progress in 2023 with seven wins for the program’s first winning season since 2014. The campaign was capped by a 31-24 win over Miami in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
• Susan served as interim tight ends coach for the last six games of the 2022 season.
• In 2021 Big Ten action, RU won two road games, a come-from-behind victory at Illinois that saw a late fourth-down stop and a five-touchdown triumph over Indiana, the program’s largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game. With just nine days’ notice, Rutgers played in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on New Year’s Eve, battling top-20 Wake Forest.
• During the unprecedented 2020 season, the Scarlet Knights matched the program high with three Big Ten victories. With a commitment to player and culture development, RU had 14 players recognized in the All-Big Ten voting, the most for the program since joining the conference. Rutgers posted a program-best 26.7 points per game in a Big Ten season, with eight games of at least 20 points after reaching the mark only five times in the prior four years. The defense had at least one takeaway in 8-of-9 games with 19 overall and led the league with 7.8 tackles-for-loss per game.
• Susan spent nine previous seasons with the Scarlet Knights from 2001-09, helping the program to five consecutive bowl appearances and four bowl championships.
• Susan started off as offensive line coach in 2001 on Schiano's original staff before moving to tight ends in 2003 and adding the title of recruiting coordinator in 2004. Susan was integral in securing several highly-touted and nationally-ranked recruiting classes, including the 2009 group that ranked in the
ESPN.com Top 25. He also mentored TE Clark Harris, a three-time All-Big East selection who had a 15-year NFL career.
• Susan served as special assistant to the director of athletics & recreation at Bucknell in 2019 after serving as head football coach for nine seasons from 2010-18. He led the Bison to a high-water mark of 8-3 in 2014 to earn recognition as the Patriot League Coach of the Year.
• During his tenure as head coach at Bucknell, Susan's players accounted for 69 All-Patriot League accolades, including a pair of four-year honorees in OL Julién Davenport and DL Abdullah Anderson, both of whom went on to the NFL. Susan also coached four Patriot League Scholar-Athletes of the Year, and his 2017 team set a record with 48 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll selections.
• Before his first time at Rutgers, Susan spent one year as the head coach at Davidson in 2000. He led the Wildcats to a 10-0 record, a single-season record for wins and the only undefeated mark in program history. Susan was named the Coach of the Year by the Division I-AA Independents Sports Information Directors Association. Additionally, he received a Presidential Citation from the University of Delaware for outstanding achievement.
• At Princeton, Susan served as both the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for a decade. In addition to recruiting duties at the Ivy League institution, he organized and implemented year-round strength and conditioning programs, developed and coordinated the spring football clinic and coordinated travel plans for away games.
• Susan’s initial tour of duty at Bucknell began in June 1981. From 1981 through 1988, he oversaw the offensive line and served as strength coach. Prior to the 1989 campaign, Susan was promoted to assistant head coach while keeping his duties with the offensive line. During that time, he recruited Schiano, who served as a co-captain as a senior in 1987, to Bucknell.
• Susan’s first foray into the coaching profession came at his alma mater, Delaware, where he was a graduate assistant on two separate occasions, separated by a one-year stint at Gettysburg College.
• Susan enjoyed an outstanding playing career at Delaware (1973-76), helping his team post a 36-12-1 record. The 1976 Newark Touchdown Club Offensive Lineman of the Year, he helped the Blue Hens capture two Lambert Cups (1974, 1976) and reach the 1974 NCAA Division II national championship game.
• In addition to a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Delaware, Susan earned his master's degree in physical education with an emphasis in exercise physiology from his alma mater in 1982.
• A native of South River, New Jersey, Susan was inducted into his high school's Hall of Fame in 2014.
Hometown: South River, N.J.
Alma Mater: Delaware, 1976 (psychology)
Wife: Cynthia
Children: Daughters, Jessica and Julia; Son, Matthew
2023-present: Rutgers (special assistant to the head coach)
2022: Rutgers (interim tight ends)
2020-22: Rutgers (special assistant to the head coach)
2019: Bucknell (special assistant to the director of athletics & recreation)
2010-18: Bucknell (head coach)
2003-09: Rutgers (tight ends/recruiting coordinator)
2001-03: Rutgers (offensive line)
2000: Davidson (head coach)
Spring 2000: Memphis (offensive line)
1991-99: Princeton (offensive coordinator/offensive line)
1989-90: Bucknell (assistant head coach/offensive line)
1981-88: Bucknell (offensive line/strength coach)
1980: Delaware (graduate assistant)
1979: Gettysburg (part-time assistant)
1977-78: Delaware (graduate assistant)
