Rutgers Football Head Coach Greg Schiano talks with the media following his program being chosen for the 2024 Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona and previews the matchup against Kansas State.
JOIN TODAY AND GET 30 DAYS FREE! | THE ROUND TABLE FORUM | RUTGERS FOOTBALL 2025 RECRUITING CLASS | RUTGERS HOOPS RECRUITING
lad to and I want to thank Eric and everybody associated with the rate bowl. I know our program, our school, our state is really excited about coming out to the Valley of the Sun and playing a great opponent in Kansas State.
It just really is special for us and as you said we were there actually our first bowl game my first time here and what a great experience our players had. So I can speak to it really from firsthand and tomorrow morning in our team meeting I will speak to it and really, really excited. I think our team really had a very, very interesting season. It was a year really unlike any other I've ever been a part of over 37 years.
We had some incredible amounts of injuries and really had to reinvent ourselves as a football team and had a little dip in the middle of the year but came out of it stronger and a lot of guys playing that maybe otherwise wouldn't have played. What finished strong and now really excited. Our first time here it became custom for our fans to plan their Christmas holidays around our bowls and then that kind of went away but this is back to back bowl games for us now This is something that I think our fan base needs to get used to and we need to keep providing. So now to go out there and do a great job against a great opponent and I'm looking forward to it.
Coach I wonder if you could just talk about several things modern guys but on guys effectiveness this year and what he brings to the offense. And it looks to me like you're really a ground first play defense run the clock control the game kind of kind of guy is that is that close.
Well you know Jack I think that's a good question. I think first Kyle Monangai is a fabulous player. You know we've had a great time with him over the last five years. He's developed and become one of the best running backs I believe in the country and has done a lot for Rutgers. And the thing that you love as a head coach is he's an even better person than he is a football player. So he makes you know he's a great example for our program. But as far as our nature of our offense and our defense we kind of do what it takes to win. And you know later in the year we threw the ball more. I think Ethan Calicum really came on. I think our young receivers were forced into action and did a good job. We love to run the ball. We love to play defense. Kicking game is very important. So yeah we're kind of do what it takes to win. But you know if we have our choice we'd like to be able to run the football and in our conference you have to be able to do that. Right. You know the weather gets pretty pretty bad at the end of the year. You know evidenced by our last game out at Michigan State and it was a it was a snow globe the entire day. So but I'm excited. I think our offense is getting better and better. It's been Kirk Ciarrocca provides tremendous leadership. It's his second year back. So now the guys have been through it for a second cycle and I think I think they're just a unit that's on the rise. Thank you.
Just how did you guys manage to do to recover from a little bit of a skid earlier in the year. What what did you say to help them through that or how did you guys go through that get through that.
You know I don't think there's anything I said. We had a like I said unprecedented.(5:20)I've been doing this 37 years. I've never seen the likes of it. The number of people that we had not only injuries but season ending injury surgeries. So coupled with the normal injuries that happen in a physical game of football. We had season ending injuries that really put us in a position that we weren't expecting or prepared for. But a lot of young guys stepped up. They gained valuable experience. And when I say reinvented our self I think that's just what happened. Like you know coming into the season we had a defense that I thought was going to be special special.(5:51)And then in training camp we lose our alpha. You know Mohamed Toure was not only one of our best players but he was the leader. He was the man. And then we had to adjust. And then we lost some other guys and we had to continue to adjust. We lost our leading sacker Wesley Bailey from the previous two years. So like as things kept changing we had to adjust. And when it hit the offense as well then it was you know hard to win games for a little bit. But I think we did. I think we reinvented ourselves our guys. The number one thing we were able to do was stick together. You know the big thing here is playing for each other. And I really believe if you get a group of men that are unselfish and play for each other you'll figure it out eventually. And that's kind of how how our season went. Sure you could live in the what if world but we don't do that. You know I don't live in the past and I don't live in the future. I try to live right now. And that's what I encourage our team to do. So we're so excited about you know coming out there to the Rape Bowl. And I think our young players now have gained valuable experience and are going to do a good job.
Do you have a sense of the seniors particularly Kyle and Holland and guys who might have NFL aspirations. If they'll be playing in this bowl game if you had those conversations and you know which one of those guys will be playing.
Well those are good questions Brian and I don't have any information on that yet. All those things are fluid. You know we have a couple fluid situations right now. Coach Harasymiak left to take the head coaching job at the University of Massachusetts. So we have adjustments going on staff wise. We have you know the annual who's going to play who's not going to play deal in the bowl game stuff. So we're working through all that again. A younger me probably would have fretted over that after doing it so many years. You know you just you figure out where you're where you are and then you got to figure out how to do it best. And we're right in the middle of doing that. This whole past weekend has been that and we'll continue until we kind of figure out how we're going to approach this thing. But it's coming quick. It's 26 we'll be here before we know it. Well you're going off that.
Have you decided who will be calling plays defensively in the bowl game. And do you have hope that you might have a DC in place by the time the bowl game comes around.
No I don't have any answers for that right now. It's as I said incredibly fluid process and we are in the infant stage of it. So again you've seen me in the past. Sometimes it's immediate. The moves I make with staff and sometimes you guys think I'm not going to do anything right. But I just do what the situation calls for in my opinion.(8:23)And so I'm not going to predetermine it. We have plenty of good coaches here that can that can call the defense. And we have more importantly we have plenty of good players that can go play the defense.
Last year obviously everybody knows how important the practices are. But last year you had a number of young players that helped you win that bowl game. Is that something that also now is the new part of college football. You got to put young players in those bowl games. It's a great question. I think you know I can just you know you remember last year when that interception right. A key interception in that game against Miami and who a true freshman. Right. That makes a big big play in the game. And I love that. I love the early stages of the bowl preparation where we we just have young players out there getting valuable experience and then every once in a while one of them really pops. You know they've been kind of sitting in the incubator during the season maybe getting a little you know second or third team reps but not getting a lot of game. And then all of a sudden the bowl game they get pushed into action and then you get to start to see really you know who you have who you recruited. And that to me is one of the fun parts of college football.
I know you mentioned going back to the bowl game that you were first part of. Right. The Insight bowl. What's the significance of that. And I guess just what's the significance of that.
It's a good question. I think I don't know if there is any significance. I love the place. I mean I love the I love the city. I love the area. And I love the people who are involved with the bowl game. I mean they're just they do such a great job for the teams for the families. You know I still people Rutgers people talk so fondly about our time there that week. So I'm looking forward to you know as many Rutgers people as we can get out there and you know come from around the country our alums that are all spread out over the southwest and the west coast. Hopefully they can join us and just looking forward to having a great experience. And again we're playing a really really good football team that I have the utmost respect. Coach Kleiman I've never really competed with him but I followed his teams as a fan and you know they're just all those national championships he won at North Dakota State and then what he's been able to do at Kansas State you know just as a head coach who goes home and after our games and loves to watch college football I've caught some of their games and really really good football team that plays the way that that I love.
So for some of the guys on this team this is their first postseason game. How important do you think bowl games are for the development of not just like the younger players but just for all the players?
Well I think it's important for a lot of things.(11:19)I think it's important for the development of younger players.(11:22)I think it's important as a reward for the players for a job well done during(11:26)the season.(11:27)And we work hard but I make sure it's a reward.(11:30)The day bowl games become a burden to players you're not going to get a lot(11:34)of guys who want to go to bowl games.(11:35)We work hard but then we let them have fun and ultimately the competitive nature(11:41)of our program is that we do everything to win.(11:44)So it'll be an awesome challenge because Kansas State's really really really(11:48)good football team.(11:50)But as I said I'm looking forward to it and can't wait to get out there.(11:57)Thank you very much coach.(11:58)And we'll go with Kallis Robinette.(12:00)Kallis good to see your face again from the Kansas City Star.(12:03)Thank you Scott.(12:05)Coach K-State and Rutgers haven't played since 06 but you're actually(12:09)the coach at Rutgers back then.(12:10)So what was it like playing against them in the bowl game?(12:12)Do you have any recollections from that far back?(12:15)Yeah that's a long time ago.(12:17)But you know I had a lot of crossovers with K-State people over the years(12:22)after that. So I actually have a coach on my staff who was on that other staff Dave Brock our wide receivers coach.(12:30)So yeah there's been a lot of crossovers. My quarterback when I was in Tampa he was Josh Freeman and he was the(12:36)quarterback when we played him in that bowl game here at Rutgers.(12:38)So it seems like my life my football career has crossed past a lot of(12:43)different ways with Kansas State.(12:45)And you know I watched them like I just got done saying I watched them play(12:48)as a fan sometimes when I catch them on TV and just love the way they play.(12:53)You know it's a team that I like to watch because they remind me of the way(12:57)we play.(12:57)Not necessarily schematically but just how hard their kids play and they do(13:01)it the right way.(13:04)Great.(13:05)Coach we do have someone who's having trouble raising his hand and that'd be(13:08)Chris Iseman from the Bergen record.(13:10)Chris go ahead for Coach Shiano.(13:13)Greg I guess just you kind of mentioned this earlier but just the older(13:16)players who obviously are getting this opportunity to go back to a bowl game(13:19)and we talked during the year about kind of the resiliency that they showed(13:22)and how proud of you you were of them.(13:24)I guess what does this mean to you to see them go through this and get this(13:27)opportunity?(13:29)It means a lot.(13:30)You know these are the guys who took a chance on us.(13:32)We recruited that first class in 11 days.(13:36)And you know there was no proof that anything good was going to happen here(13:40)other than what we had done the first time when we were here.(13:43)But things had really deteriorated and for them to take a chance on us at that(13:47)time and now five years later they're the senior class that kind of led this(13:52)program out of the darkness again.(13:54)And it's a player-led program.(13:56)I rely on them so much.(13:58)And guys like Kyle Anunga and Holland Pierce and you go down the list,(14:02)those guys just provide such leadership on a daily basis that I'm thrilled for(14:08)them to have this opportunity and thrilled for our whole program,(14:13)our fan base, our school.(14:14)These are special.(14:15)You know some people talk about well at the advent of the college football(14:18)playoff bowl games don't mean as much.(14:20)Don't tell our guys that.(14:21)It means a lot to us.(14:23)And hopefully someday we're in that college football playoff.(14:26)But this is our college football playoff.(14:28)We get a one-game playoff and it's called the Rape Bowl.(14:30)So we're very excited.(14:34)Thank you, Coach.(14:35)I want to go to Rutgers rivals and Alec Krause-Hamill.(14:40)Greg, you talked a lot about during the bye week kind of stripping things down(14:43)to the studs and that kind of led to the turnaround.(14:45)How do you kind of balance keeping up the development with the same things(14:48)that you've been doing while also trying to stack on some new things for that(14:51)development purposes of some of the younger guys?(14:53)Yeah, I don't know how many new things.(14:55)You know you always make game plan adjustments,(14:57)little tweaks here and tweaks there to take care of issues(15:00)or take advantage of something you think might be a situation(15:03)where you can gain an advantage.(15:06)But at this stage you're not really putting in a whole lot of new stuff.(15:09)What you're trying to do is make sure,(15:11)especially in the early part of this prep,(15:13)you know fundamental development of our younger players.(15:16)You know they get a chance.(15:17)It's a mini spring practice.(15:18)We know we're going to have spring practice,(15:20)but the early part of bowl prep is a mini spring practice(15:23)to get our guys great work.(15:24)Our older guys that are beat up,(15:26)you know they'll be doing work,(15:28)but not at the level they're accustomed to during the season. When we get into install and then game plan preparation, then they'll go back full board. But right now it'll be the younger guys, and I'm looking forward to that because I love those periods where you can really teach. There's no – you're not doing it against a particular opponent. You're just doing fundamental development, and to me that's the basis of coaching, the very, very bottom floor of it and I love that.
Coach, thank you for your time. Before we move on to Coach Kleinman, is there anything you would like to add in final thoughts?
Well, I'm just really excited. You know, I really do. I look forward to the preparation, and I look forward to getting out to Arizona and really having a great experience out there with the game. And, you know, we have some work to do before we get there.
Academically we've got a lot of challenges ahead of us, final exams and all that stuff. But we've got a responsible group, a mature group. They'll take care of business, and then we'll go out there and have a great experience. So it's going to be a great month, but we've got a lot of work to do.(16:28)And, again, excited to be competing with Kansas State. Coach Kleinman does such a great job, and their program does such a great job that I just think – excited about it.
Hey, one thing before I get off, if I could, because we had just a horrible tragedy here in New Jersey. Brad Cunningham, who was part of my first recruiting class way back in 2000, he and Coach McKnight, who was a very popular head coach in New Jersey,(17:05)and they had a tragic, tragic car accident. Those two and four others were killed in a really bad accident. And I just want to send our thoughts and prayers from Rutgers(17:18)and from our football program and all their friends. Those are – Brad Cunningham is one of us. So to your families and to everybody involved in Hudson County and Hudson Catholic football, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Anything we can do, we're here.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
