Rutgers Football has hired former Minnesota assistant coach Dennis Dottin-Carter to be the Scarlet Knights’ newest defensive line coach, a source confirms to The Knight Report.

The former Golden Gophers defensive line coach spent three seasons in Minneapolis, where he was a senior defensive analyst for the 2023-24 seasons, before being elevated to the defensive line coach in 2025.

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Dottin-Carter’s background

The 45-year old Cambridge, Massachusetts native comes to the banks after a very succesful season for the Gophers defensive line, as the program finished 11th in the nation in sacks, posted a top 30 run defense, and recently just landed them a Top 40 overall recruit in edge rusher Aaden Aytch.

Along with Minnesota, Dottin-Carter has a lot of ties to the Northeast. He played at Maine before coaching for the Black Bears to go along with coaching stints at Delaware, and UConn before heading out to the Midwest.

During his time at Maine, he coached alongside former Rutgers DC / current UMass HC Joe Harasymiak from 2011-12 as the defensive line coach. He also coached under current Rutgers wide receivers coach Dave Brock, when he was the head coach of Delaware. Dottin-Carter was Brock’s defensive line coach in 2023, promoted him to Co-DC / DL coach in 2014 and 2015, and Dottin-Carter was named the interim after Brock was fired. Add in the fact that he has now coached under PJ Fleck too, which is a Rutgers tie in a way.

On top of that, Dottin-Carter is known as a solid talent developer. As we mentioned above, he played a major role in helping the Gophers defense take it up a level in 2025. However he’s also developed talent at other spots too. In his lone year at Yale, he developed two Second-Team All-Ivy League defensive linemen Reid Nickerson and Clay Patterson.

During his time at UConn, he developed one time Rutgers commit and defensive tackle Travis Jones into a third round NFL Draft pick. He also helped develop defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi (Olakunle’s brother) turn into sixth round pick as well. He also coached current Rutgers assistant defensive line coach Luke Carrezola during his time in Connecticut and was eventually his boss, as Carrezola was a graduate assistant from 2019-21 for the Huskies. Rutgers Special Teams Analyst Eddie Allen, also worked alongside him as UConn’s Special Teams Coordinator from 2018-21 as well.

Overall Dottin-Carter makes a ton of sense, between his connections to the staff, the region and not to mention he was available, as PJ Fleck made the decision to move on from Dottin-Carter after the 2025 season. On top of it all, coach Dottin-Carter has proven he can develop talent.

Dennis Dottin-Carter was named Rush Ends Coach in January 2025 and was then named Defensive Line Coach in February 2025. He joined the Minnesota staff in January 2023 as a senior defensive analyst. 

He has worked closely with the team’s defensive line and is one of the main reasons the team’s sack and tackles for loss totals has increased year-over-year. In 2022, the year prior to Dottin-Carter’s arrival, Minnesota had 19 sacks and 47 tackles for loss. Last season, the Gophers totaled 28 sacks and 66 tackles for loss. In 2022, the Gopher defensive line broke up seven passes, and in 2024 it broke up 14, led by Jah Joyner (7) and Jalen Logan-Redding (4). 

Prior to Minnesota, Dottin-Carter was Yale’s assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive Line coach for the 2022 Ivy League Champions. Defensive linemen Reid Nickerson and Clay Patterson each earned Second-Team All-Ivy honors under Dottin-Carter’s tutelage, while the defense finished fifth in the country in scoring defense and seventh in rush defense.

Prior to Yale, Dottin-Carter spent five seasons as UConn’s defensive line coach. Hukies’ defensive lineman Travis Jones was drafted in the third round by Baltimore and was named a Second Team All-American by PFF. During the 2016 season, Dottin-Carter coached Foley Fatukasi to All-American Athletic Conference honors before being selected in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. Against UMass on Oct. 9, 2021, Dottin-Carter was named UConn’s interim head coach.

Before UConn, Dottin-Carter coached for four seasons at the University of Delaware where he was the Blue Hens’ defensive line coach for one year before being promoted to co-defensive coordinator in 2014. He was selected as interim head coach during the 2016 season. At Delaware, Dottin-Carter oversaw the development of 2013 All-American Zach Kerr who signed with the Indianapolis Colts and spent eight seasons in the NFL. Defensive lineman Bilal Nichols was drafted 145th overall by Chicago in 2018 after being a Third Team All-American.

Dottin-Carter began his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Maine, in 2008 as tight ends coach. He went on to coach fullbacks, running backs, defensive line and special teams in his five-year tenure that overlapped with Minnesota defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who was the Black Bears’ special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2007-08 and the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2009-11.

With Dottin-Carter as defensive line coach, Maine’s 2012 defense led the Colonial Athletic Conference in scoring defense and ranked 16th nationally. Junior defensive end Mike Cole led the CAA with 7.0 sacks in just five games and would go on to become the school’s all-time leader in sacks. The 2011 Maine team reached the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs and boasted the top pass defense in the CAA, while Cole was tabbed All-CAA after leading the conference in sacks.

A native of Cambridge, Mass., Dottin-Carter earned his degree in kinesiology and physical education from Maine following a standout playing career in which he led the Black Bears to Atlantic 10 titles in 2001 and 2002. He was a first team All-Atlantic 10 selection as a defensive end in 2002 and a second-team pick in 2003.