What has been the biggest influence for Greg Schiano in his return to Rutgers football? ‘Raising my own four kids’

Greg Schiano says he got some perspective on coaching during his time away from the sport.

In what is often labeled as ‘Greg Schiano 2.0,’ the return of the head coach to Rutgers football has been shaped by his eight years away from the program. He is a different coach, Schiano said, then when he left in 2012 for the NFL.

And Schiano, he returned back to Rutgers ahead of the 2020 season, is hoping that the same success from his first rebuild coupled with his growth as a head coach and as a person, will shape this current rebuild.

More influential than his two seasons as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or his time as defensive coordinator at Ohio State, Schiano says that something away from the football field was incredibly impactful in helping to shape him. Now back at Rutgers, Schiano’s past experience have shaped the man who attempting to rebuild Rutgers football for a second time.

“So you know, you get to see your own kids become teenagers and college age students, and then college graduates. Meanwhile, you’re coaching in the National Football League,” Schiano told WFAN’s Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney last week.

“You see those guys – how that hierarchy works and that structure, then go to a place like Ohio State and really, you know, one of the elite programs and it was good, it was all good experiences. Stuff that I could take from each stop; probably none more than raising my own four kids. But I’ll tell you what, it’s exciting to do it. I love getting up and coming to work.”

Schiano is back in his fourth season at Rutgers in what is now his second massive rebuild of the program. He left following the 2011 season to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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He spent two years in the NFL then became defensive coordinator at Ohio State. Schiano returned back to Rutgers in 2020.

His comments were made last week on the ‘Tiki and Tierney’ hosted by Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney. Barber is a former legendary NFL running back with the New York Giants.

During the interview, Schiano said that Barber should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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