Ahead of Saturday’s game with Rutgers football, Penn State head coach James Franklin talked about the job being done by Greg Schiano. The Rutgers head coach has turned around the program and it is showing this season.
Rutgers (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten) plays at Penn State on Saturday (12:00 PM ET, Big Ten Network). The Nittany Lions are 8-2 (5-2 Big Ten).
Schiano, in his fourth year at Rutgers, has undertaken the slow and painful rebuild of a roster that was talent-deficient when he arrived back at the program. The Scarlet Knights are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2014.
The rebuild was put into overdrive this offseason with the arrival of Kirk Ciarrocca as the offensive coordinator.
Highly experienced within the college coaching ranks, Ciarrocca was an offensive coordinator at Penn State in 2020 as part of Franklin’s staff. In talking this week to reporters, Franklin praised the rebuilding effort of Schiano before talking about what Ciarrocca has added to the staff.
“I obviously got a ton of the respect for him and what he’s done throughout his career, and specifically at Rutgers. You know, his background as a defensive guy in the NFL, as well as in college. They do a really good job. He’s done it that way for a long time,” Franklin said during his weekly press conference of Schiano.
“If you look at the hire that they made with hiring Kirk Ciarrocca, we have familiarity with Kirk. Got a ton a respect for him. Been a really good hire for them and the complementary football they want to play.
“Obviously, Greg is very involved with special teams, has essentially always run the special teams, the way they play defense and Kirk’s been a really good hire. Kirk is on that staff. Also Dave Brock, a good friend of mine. Dave was my receivers coach at K-State (Kansas State). Really good ball coaches. Both have been at Rutgers before and are doing a good job for them.”
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Since joining the Big Ten in 2014, Rutgers has never beaten Penn State.