Rutgers interviewed Alabama offensive analyst Butch Jones for its head coaching position on Friday, according to NJ Advance Media.
The 51-year-old Jones previously was the head coach at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Tennessee and is the first candidate known to have interviewed to potentially replace Chris Ash, who was fired in late September.
Jones, who was a graduate assistant at Rutgers from 1990-92, has an 84-54 record in 11 seasons as a head coach. He guided Tennessee to three straight bowl wins from 2014-16 but was fired with two games remaining the following season after a 4-6 start.
He was named Big East coach of the year in 2011 after leading the Bearcats to a 10-3 record, capped by a 31-24 win over Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl.
No. 2 Alabama, where Jones has worked the past two seasons, has a bye this week before hosting No. 1 LSU next Saturday.
Under Ash, Rutgers (2-6) opened the season 1-3 and was shut out twice.
Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile has served as interim head coach since Ash’s dismissal.
Ash went 8-32 in three-plus seasons, with his best season being 4-8 in 2017.
Rutgers plays at Illinois (4-4) on Saturday.