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What’s the first thing Greg Schiano do in Monday’s press conference? Praise another football coach.
OK, well Schiano actually praised a soccer coach and not a football. But the rest of the world calls it football or futbol) so cut us some slack here.
Schiano, the head coach of Rutgers football, offered congratulations to Mike O’Neill, the head coach of the Rutgers women’s soccer team to start his weekly press conference. The women’s soccer program finished the regular season 15-2 and with a 10-0 mark in the Big Ten.
It was the first Big Ten title in the athletic department history. Rutgers joined the conference in 2014 and while there has been solid success across the Olympic sports, a conference title has been hard to come by.
“I want to start by congratulating Mike O’Neill and the women’s soccer team, Big Ten champions, our first Big Ten championship at Rutgers,” Schiano told reporters on Tuesday.
“And really, really good. Mike is one of the first people that I saw when I came back here to Rutgers and he runs an excellent program. And I’m really excited for him. And for the ladies there that did a tremendous job. So, hats off to them and a big congrats.”
The women play Wisconsin at Yurcak Field on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. The O’Neill’s team didn’t lose a game in conference play, making them the first team in the Big Ten to do so since Penn State in 2005.