Now that Sean Gleeson has officially been announced as the next offensive coordinator for Rutgers Football, there has been a lot of speculation as to what the Scarlet Knights offense will look like next season.
Current Princeton head coach Bob Surace not only helped Gleeson get his first job at the college level, but also offered him his first job at the division one level too. Gleeson coached at Princeton for six seasons, the last two as the team’s offensive coordinator.
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“I’ve known Sean since I came back to Princeton in 2010,” Surace told TKR. “When I was making hires, James Perry the offensive coordinator I hired, coached Gleeson at Williams College. I’ve told this story a few times already, but Sean was just down the street at Delbarton High School. As always during practices, sometimes coaches stop by and we typically say you’re always welcome and Sean just kept showing up. He was coaching bowling and then the next thing you know he would show up six o’clock at night and the next thing you know we were talking football for the next three hours. Then he just started coming more and more, like three, four times a week he would come over and we just got to know him very well.
“My brother (Brian) used to be the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson and I got to know Sean well enough, so I told my brother he had to hire this guy. He worked for my brother for two years and then eventually we were able to hire him. He’s just one of those people that you like being around. My wife and his wife also worked together and our families are close and he’s just somebody I think the world of.”
The Princeton offense has been known as one of the most innovative offenses in recent years. A few years back just a they ran an offensive scheme with three different quarterbacks on the field at the same time. However that wasn’t all on Gleeson, but he did manage to produce a couple of quarterbacks who are now in the NFL.
“The three quarterback offense actually kind of predated him a little bit, but he was part of the staff when we did that," Surace said. "When Sean came in one of his mottos was fast, physical and hungry. When it came to those three things, we kind of took advantage of the talent we had on the roster and we had some really athletic quarterbacks on the sideline. So we thought they could help us be successful and we did some things with multiple QBs on the field at the same time. The one that we’ve been really good at and Sean was excellent at this, was taking advantage of what personnel we had. The quarterback is an athlete and he will take advantage of that. In his two years as coordinator, we had a QB at Princeton who is now in the NFL as an H-Back and a quarterback who is now in the NFL as a drop back passer. We’ve had a number of different people in our staff room who were outstanding, but Sean was really bright and took advantage of these guys skillsets."
Over the past few years, Rutgers has had some of the worst offensive production in the entire country as the Scarlet Knights averaged the second lowest points per game last season (13.2ppg).
It will now be up to Gleeson to turn that around and coach Surace is very confident in his abilities to do so. He also thinks you will see a much faster and more physical team this season.
“Obviously we can’t talk about other teams players, but I think Sean will sit down with Greg (Schiano), watch the film and discuss what they can do best. I will tell you this, when you guys interview Sean I would be kind of shocked if he didn’t use the words “fast, physical and hungry.” Those words have been engrained into the Princeton offense, engrained in the Oklahoma State offense and I think they’ll be engrained into the Rutgers offense. Just as Greg is putting together the foundation of his team, just as we did a number of years ago. You are putting together a staff of people that share your attitude and the little bit I know Greg, I think him and Sean will both share those values with each other. Going through those years and knowing the culture that Greg instills in his teams, they are a team that plays hard and physical.”
Along with being a very innovative offensive mind, Gleeson is also known as a pretty darn good recruiter, especially when it comes to recruiting quarterbacks.
During his time at Princeton, he helped convince four-star QB Brevin White choose the Tigers over 13 other schools, including Alabama. Then most recently at Oklahoma, he helped the Cowboys land Rivals250 QB Shane Illingsworth this past 2020 recruiting cycle.
“Something that we’ve done with some of the best coaches we’ve had here at Princeton, is that they’ve worn many hats," he said. "Sean coached running backs, played an influential role in recruiting, he was special teams coordinator, quarterbacks coach and finally offensive coordinator. Giving guys multiple hats helps develop them to become better coaches. I think parents and everybody will all feel really comfortable with him whether he’s on a home visit or a school visit, people just like being around him. People always used to say that he’s just a good person, a good coach and somebody who is going to do a good job with their kids. We’ve had the number one FCS recruiting class a couple of times over the past few years and Sean was a big part of two of those years. What he’s done as a recruiter kind of speaks for himself.”
Stay tuned for more on Gleeson right here on The Knight Report!
