While most of the focus yesterday was on the Rutgers basketball game, the local media was able to speak with football head coach Greg Schiano.
The Scarlet Knights new head coach spoke about his new additions to coaching staff, updates on incoming transfers and more.
SIGN UP FOR PREMIUM NOW AND GET 30 DAYS FREE — CLICK HERE FOR MORE!!
On honoring Brick City Lions at halftime......
"It was cool to recognize the Brick City Lions tonight as National Champions. I was just telling Nas (Nasir Gaines), you guys set the standard and we got to go chase it now. It’s great for New Jersey football. Really good to see those guys have so much success and they do a really great job."
On the past two weeks since signing day…..
“Really no coming down. Recruiting continues, the rules change, and the transfer portal is updated every day. There are guys we are going to start evaluating, the 21’s, 22’s, 23’s, 24’s and 25’s, we got to stay on that. Then we also have to hire a staff. There has been very little break to tell ya the truth, but that’s good. We are putting together a great staff and we are able to continue recruiting right through that.
On Offensive Asst. Augie Hoffman hire…
“Augie is a great coach first and foremost. I’ve known Augie for a long time and I’ve recruited his school for a long time. Every one of the coaches have been huge hires for our program. The reason being not only are they great coaches and great recruiters, but they are men who will be great mentors and great leaders. We are looking for a certain type of guy, a Rutgers man to recruit, but you better have Rutgers men to lead them. Position coaches and coordinators spend the most time with the players, so they really have to be at the fore front of that. So far we’ve had a great run and we’ve been blessed to be able to hire the guys that we have.
On OC/QB coach Sean Gleeson hire…
“It’s pretty obvious that a lot of our staff are Jersey guys and that’s not by coincidence. He is also just a tremendous football mind. I’ve followed him for a while now. I don’t know him, but I was talking to a lot of people who know him. It was kind of a little bit courtship, but we just got to know each other. And they had a bowl game to get ready for and stuff like that. At the end of the day he wanted to be back here in his home state and he believes in what we are doing. As the leader of our offense, I think he’s going to be tremendous. 100% fits my vision. If you look at the job that he’s done and a lot of you have written this, he’s been able to use the personnel that he’s had. That to me is a sign of a really good tactical coach. It’s one to say I’m a 4-3, 3-4, spread or pro. But how about what players do you have and I’m going to go into the room and utilize them and I think that’s what Sean has proved as a young dynamic coach.
On Tiquan Underwood’s return…..
“Really cool to have him back. I got to see him today for the first day. He’s got that something special. The thing that I love is that he’s been coached by a ton of good coaches and he has a ton of knowledge to give to these kids. He’s also played at that place that they want to play. I can’t wait to see him grow and I can’t wait to see what he does for our program. We have more of our own out there coaching, strength training, personnel, player development and it’s really important for me to bring them back. People who understand our culture and understand what Rutgers Football is about. Who better to lead them than guys who have actually lived it and done it. Fortunate that we could do this with Ti in a coaching position, but there are a lot of other positions that I hope we can get our previous players more involved in.
On Anthony Campanile / other DC candidates:
“We’ve been talking to a lot of people and we are going to continue doing that. Hopefully we can get that to you guys as soon as we know and try not to make any mistake. As soon as I know these last two, you guys will get it. We are just trying to put together the best staff that we possibly can for Rutgers. It doesn’t have to be for anybody else, because I don’t really care about anybody else, I care about us.
On RB coach Kolby Smith’s status…
“He is still with the program and we are going to figure out how that fits. Again we have two spots left and we are working through that. Kolby is a really fine coach, we just have to see how that all fits together.”
On new OL coach Andy Aurich….
“Well he’s worked with me at two different places. He was with me here at Rutgers and then he was with me down at Tampa Bay. I was able to follow his career and he went to Princeton and coached a couple of different positions and he was Sean’s (Gleeson) line coach for three years. They are very close. So that was one of those no brainers. I probably would’ve hired him anyway, but when Sean came it was easy. I’m excited about that relationship. When you work with a guy for a while you understand and develop an offense together, there are just certain things you already know without having to go through it all again. Now you have two guys in the room that can teach everybody else and that’s important. You can imagine that there isn’t going to be a ton of time when we finally get to doing football, to get it ready for spring. We are going to hit the ground running. This whole thing will be a sprint this first go around, but when isn’t really.
Incoming OSU transfers Malik Barrow and Brendon White…
“Malik Barrow I think is a really explosive defensive lineman. I go way back with him, he played against my sons when he was at Tampa Catholic and my sons were at Berkley Prep. So I saw him as a high school player and he was one of the first guys I saw when I walked into Ohio State, he was there on his visit. He’s had an unfortunate run with some injuries, but he’s healthy now. I’ve seen some video of him and he’s going to be a force. Then Brendan, I actually coached him as a position coach. He’s a tremendous athlete, big safety that can run, great range and I’m excited. He’s been a productive player in the Big Ten Conference and I think that’s a tremendous get. We won’t have him for a long time, only one year so we have to make the most of it.
Update on Raheem Blackshear….
“He’s in the portal, you know that. The way to handle that is that when a decision is made, I will speak on what the decision. It’s not my decision, it’s his decision. So he may speak on it before I do. When I know, I can kind of comment on it. This is something new to football, we just have to find out how we are going to maneuver our way through it. Anybody who says they got it figured out isn’t being honest with you. It’s a new thing and like any new thing, you really got to work to figure how to best handle it.”
On players entering portal….
“I try to avoid policies because then the policy kind of runs you. So unless it’s something that’s non-negotiable, then it is not really a policy, it is a rule. I think every situation is an independent event because every young man is an independent event. There is history, there is all kinds of stuff that goes on. I think that’s the way I will handle. Those things are such private issues, but I know they are newsworthy. So I’ll try to handle it with them and try to find out what is fair and best for everyone.
Priority for the next four to five weeks…
“It’s the same. Get the staff finished. When we say the staff we are talking about two more on field coaches, but then you have GA’s, player personnel, creative team. There is a lot of hires. There are some good people there. I’ve been very honest and upfront with everybody who works in the program, that I have to do this in this order. Number one was recruit, so no disrespect to anybody, but we are going to recruit. As I’m doing that, we are going to try to hire coaches. But really those first two weeks, we only had eight academic days, where we could go into schools. Now it’s staff and continue to recruit. Recruiting never stops, as you guys know that’s year round. One of the key principles in any leadership role is alignment, you want to have your organization aligned. As you’re hiring them, there is not time to have 15 alignment meetings. So when you’re interviewing them you explain to them what we are about, so if they do get on board they know what to do until we all get together. Hopefully we can wrap this thing up in the relatively near future. Then at least the core can sit down and say this is who we are and this is how we are going to operate. Then everyone else will follow those guys. I think this staff has a lot of alphas, which is good. We just have to make sure we are aligned.
