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Greg Schiano spent three years beginning in 2016 at Ohio State as the program’s defensive coordinator, earning during that time a reputation as one of the top recruiters in the nation. He took lessons from his time with one of the elite programs in not just the Big Ten but in all of college football that can be translated now as head coach of Rutgers.
Schiano, now in his second stint at Rutgers, has pieced together a top 25 recruiting class for much of the past year. Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo, a former head coach at Indiana as well as Vanderbilt and LSU, thinks there were some eye-opening components to the Ohio State program under then head coach Urban Meyer that Schiano is now blending into how Rutgers recruits.
“Well, the one thing I’ve heard him say is that recruiting is a learning experience and Greg was a good recruiter the first time he was at Rutgers and the numbers bear that out,” DiNardo told ‘Rutgers Wire’ last week.
“I think Urban and that staff took it to the next level. The one thing that’s drastically different in modern-day football as opposed to earlier times – the amount of people – by NCAA rules you can have as many people on your staff other than 10 assistants and one head coach four Gas actually coaching the team. Other than that, you have these backrooms that have people that are looking at the freshman, sophomores, graphics, and social media – that has really changed.
“Greg had that experience at Ohio State and this all started at Alabama. Ohio State was cutting edge in the back room of recruiting and that has really helped him at Rutgers.”
DiNardo is impressed with what Schiano has been able to do in just his second season back with the Scarlet Knights. Last year, Rutgers was 3-6, with all games having been played in just the Big Ten. This year, they are 3-2 and have a legitimate shot at a bowl game.
DiNardo thinks that the recruiting insight gained at Ohio State along with exposure to a spread offense and his own time in the NFL has made Schiano 2.0 a more polished head coach.
“I think he’s a different guy. The one similar thing is that he loved being at Rutgers the first time and I think he probably loves it even more being here the second,” DiNardo said. “If him and Rutgers have their way, I think he’ll be there the rest of his career. I think that would be a good thing for Rutgers.”