Greg Schiano reminisces about Steve Belichick’s playing days

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano took a minute to acknowledge Washington defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who played for him with the Scarlet Knights.

When the Washington Huskies travel to Piscataway, New Jersey, on Friday for a matchup with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, it will be a homecoming for multiple members of Washington’s coaching staff.

Head coach Jedd Fisch grew up nearby in Livingston, while defensive coordinator Steve Belichick is a Rutgers graduate and played both football and lacrosse during his college years. Belichick was a long snapper for the Scarlet Knights during the 2011 season under head coach Greg Schiano.

After going 9-4 that year, Schiano left to take the head coaching job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but returned to the school in 2020 and has done an impressive job building the program back up. During his Monday press conference, he shared a story about his relationship with Washington’s defensive coordinator.

“He helped us out coaching, and he was playing, but he was like a player/coach. I used to call the defenses and I used to signal them myself,” Schiano said. “We had multiple signals for each defense. I told Steve, on game day, do me a favor. You stand right there, and you know the calls, if I signal the same signal two times in a row, just let me know about it.”

“Well, the first time I signaled it two times in a row with the same signal, he punched me in the ribs so damn hard. I’m like, what the heck are you doing? He’s like, ‘You told me.’ I said, ‘I know, you can just tap me. You don’t need to line me out.'”

“He really decided that is what he wanted to do, so it was kind of an internship in coaching. And then the great success he had at New England, Super Bowl champions and all those things and running a defense there. It’s not a shock to me how well they’re doing defensively. As a matter of fact, that’s what I thought he would do. But I am proud of him.”