As he enters his fourth season with Rutgers football, head coach Greg Schiano believes that the product on the field as well as off of it is beginning to take shape.
Rutgers hasn’t had a winning season since 2014, which was also the last time the program made a bowl game outright. In taking over Rutgers, Schiano’s second strint back with the program sees him having to do more than just rebuild the Scarlet Knights on the field.
In fact, much of the mechanisms in and around the program needed just as much help as the actual personnel on the roster.
In the four seasons prior to Schiano’s arrival, the team went a combined 9-39. They didn’t win a game in the Big Ten during the two years before Schiano returned to the program.
“It’s a little different in our situation because I had been there 11 years before I had left, and then I’d been away for 8 years. I was a little bit shocked how much things had changed. And I’m not just talking about the athletes or the football, I’m talking about the infrastructure,” Schiano told reporters on Wednesday during Big Ten Media Days.
“So we had to really rebuild a lot of the things, whether it’s medical coverage, the way the players ate, nutrition, training, all that. You know what, I didn’t complain at all because you know when you’re taking a job what has to get done. I think we’re in a great place right now. I think our support for our student-athletes is unparalleled in college football, what we do for the players, and I’m proud to say that, and I think our guys know that.”
Rutgers certainly is trending up in terms of talent. The vaunted 2021 recruiting class is now entering its second season with the program and there is now a solid contingent of upperclassmen within the program that could be considered NFL caliber.
In fact, seven Rutgers players made the watchlist for the Shrine Bowl, a sign of the upward progress of the program.
Bult the culture and infrastructure is a key part of what Schiano is trying to build at Rutgers. He says it is paying dividends.
“It’s one of the reasons that, in this age of transfer portal and those things, our guys are staying put. The minute you say that, you might lose a guy, but I really feel like those things had to be rebuilt while simultaneously the recruiting and developing of the players in our program,” Schiano said.
“So it’s a lot to do, but certainly I feel like we’re right where we need to be moving forward.”
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