Nick Quartaro Named Director of Player Development
Jan 06 | Football
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers head football coach Chris Ash named Nick Quartaro Director of Player Development, it was announced today. Quartaro brings over 30 years of college football experience to Piscataway, including seven as a head coach. Ash and Quartaro worked together on the Iowa State staff from 2000-01.
"With over 30 years in college football, Nick will be a great resource to the players in our program," said Ash. "He knows the demands of being a college athlete and what it takes for them to be successful during their college careers and long after their playing days are over."
A native of Geneva, N.Y., Quartaro served as head coach at Fordham (1994-97) and at Ash's alma mater, Drake (1986-88). A three-year letterwinner as a kicker at Iowa (1974-76), he returns to the Big Ten after working as a defensive assistant and with special teams at Northwestern from 1981-85 and as a graduate assistant at for the Hawkeyes in 1978.
Quartaro spent the last five seasons on the staff at North Texas as the assistant head coach under Dan McCarney, who also mentored Ash previously at Iowa State for seven seasons. At NT, Quartaro worked with the wide receivers the first three years before moving to the tight ends the last two. He coached tight end Marcus Smith to a team-high six touchdowns in 2014 and 29 receptions this past season, ranked second-most on the team. The Mean Green earned nine wins in 2013 for just the sixth time in over 100 years of the program, including winning the Heart of Dallas Bowl over UNLV for the program's third bowl win.
Prior to joining North Texas, Quartaro was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator at Kansas from 2002-06, where he helped the Jayhawks earn two bowl game appearances (2003 Tangerine Bowl, 2005 Fort Worth Bowl). During his time at Kansas, 19 offensive players earned Big 12 All-Conference accolades.
The 2005 Jayhawk offense set a school record for bowl-game total yards with 538 against Houston in a victory in the Fort Worth Bowl, and in 2006 running back Jon Cornish led the Big 12 in rushing while setting a school record for yards in a season with 1,457. During the 2003 campaign, Quartaro helped orchestrate a KU offense that set 12 different single-season school records at the time including most points (384), most touchdown passes (25) and most total yards gained (5,479).
Prior to arriving in Lawrence, Quartaro was an integral part of the rebuilding processes at Iowa State and Kansas State as an assistant coach, and at Fordham and Drake as a head coach. He successfully altered the record of a formerly winless football program at Fordham, and was associate head coach and worked with Kansas State's tight ends and special teams in the Wildcats' gridiron turnaround.
Quartaro, who served as wide receivers coach at ISU from 1998-2001, was instrumental in helping the Cyclones achieve back-to-back appearances in bowl games his last two seasons and the best combined record (16-7) in 23 years. His influence was felt in ISU's 9-3 record, top 25 ranking and victory over Pittsburgh in the 2000 Insight.com Bowl.
Quartaro was named head coach at Fordham University in 1994 and spent four years building a winning program. In 1997, Quartaro's last season, the Rams finished with their first-ever winning record in the Patriot League, a 4-2 mark, good for third place. Prior to his appointment at Fordham, Quartaro had a five-year tenure as part of the original staff of Bill Snyder at Kansas State. Elevated to assistant head coach in his second year and associate head coach in his third season, Quartaro helped K-State to its first bowl game in the Snyder era in the 1993 Copper Bowl. He also had assignments as tight ends and special teams coach for the Wildcats.
Quartaro served as head coach at Drake University for three years (1986-88) and guided the Bulldogs to a 7-3 mark in his third and final year. He also worked five years (1981-85) at Northwestern under former NFL head coach Dennis Green assisting with the secondary, the defensive line, and coordinating the special teams and coached future 14-year NFL punter John Kidd and special teams standout Steve Tasker of the Buffalo Bills.
Quartaro also worked as a high school head coach in Iowa and served as an assistant at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y.
After starting his college playing career as a defensive end/kicker at Xavier (Ohio), Quartaro transferred to Iowa and became the Hawkeyes' kicker for three seasons and earned his degree in 1977. He finished his career as Iowa's second all-time leading scorer and was named academic all-conference as a junior. Quartaro spent time serving as a college football radio analyst in the Tampa Bay area while working in corporate management before joining the staff at North Texas.
Quartaro and his wife, Stephanie, have two children, Andria and Tony.
