Rutgers gives state something to talk about
Local coaches, players chime in on progress of RU football program
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

RUTGERS ATHLETICS Since taking over the Rutgers football program in 2000, Greg Schiano has been working toward establishing a winning tradition.

Why not Rutgers? That’s the question facing RU head coach Greg Schiano and his staff following the Scarlet Knights’ most successful season in 27 years.

Now that they’ve proved they can play with a Top 25 team on a big stage, why can’t this program get to the next level? And can the Rutgers football team eventually earn a place within the national championship picture?

In years past, such a notion would be laughed at, dismissed as a pipe dream. Suddenly, it appears that the Rutgers program is closer than most people thought it would ever be.

Baby steps

With the college football community still buzzing from one of the most exciting bowl seasons in recent memory, fans of New Jersey’s state university are thrilled to be able to say that their team was part of that excitement for once.

By now, we’ve all heard about how the Scarlet Knights earned their spot in the Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 27, and immediately proved they belonged there with a hard-fought loss to a solid Arizona State team.

RUTGERS ATHLETICS Brian Leonard’s decision to return for his senior year is a further testament to the notion that the RU coaches and players expect more success in the future.

But the game itself was just part of the story. The reaction throughout the state took even those within the Rutgers program by surprise, as New Jersey football fans embraced the opportunity to show their support for a program that has long struggled for respectability. A strong contingent of Rutgers fans made the trip out west for the big game, while back home, the Rutgers football team enjoyed the rare spotlight that comes with a meaningful postseason contest.

“First of all, the initial reaction when we got down to Phoenix, at the pep rallies, and the before- and after-parties, was simply tremendous. We met with such a positive response,” said Bob Mulcahy, Rutgers’ longtime athletic director.

“Then getting back to New Jersey, all the positive things that have been said about the program on television and in the newspapers have had a tremendous impact on the university — and its ability to recruit in particular.”

Manalapan High School head football coach Ed Gurrieri believes that Rutgers turned the corner with its bowl appearance this year.

“From everyone I spoke to who watched it [the Insight.com Bowl], they came away saying Rutgers played a big-time game on national television,” he said. “It was a win-win situation for Rutgers.”

In short, the Rutgers football program took a giant leap forward this season, and college football fans throughout the state certainly took notice.

And now they want more.

Immediately following the 45-40 loss to Arizona State, Schiano and his players began pointing toward next season, when the Scarlet Knights hope to prove that this season was much more than just a tease.

“We’re certainly going to miss our seniors,” Schiano said. “They are the young men who put Rutgers football back on the map and laid the foundation.

“This is not a one-year stint; they laid the foundation for our football program to move forward,” he added. “My biggest disappointment is for those [19] guys because I wanted them to complete the experience, to be a bowl champion, not just a bowl participant. It’s something that hasn’t been done around here for 27 years.”

Then came the promise that those in and around the Rutgers community hope Schiano can keep.

“We’ll be back,” he said.

His players certainly seem to believe him. Why else would Brian Leonard, Rutgers’ two-time first-team All-America fullback, and a player most scouts believe would have been drafted in either the first or second round had he decided to leave early, announce his intentions to come back next year, and take another shot at that elusive bowl win?

“I sat down with my parents and we discussed this for long hours at a time. I felt throughout my college career that I proved that I can play at the next level,” Leonard said. “But there’s one thing I haven’t proved, and that’s taking Rutgers to a BCS [bowl] game and winning a championship.

“I see Rutgers as a powerhouse in the future, and I want to be a part of it. So, it was my heartfelt decision that I’ll be back for my senior year,” Leonard added.

Leonard’s decision to stay can only strengthen the notion that the Rutgers program has taken that next step, and is in fact one step closer to establishing itself as a perennial bowl contender.

Measuring progress

When Schiano, a Wyckoff native and Ramapo High School graduate, took over as the 27th head coach in Rutgers’ history on Dec. 1, 2000, he immediately described his “vision of excellence” for Rutgers football.

“This program will be built on a rock foundation,” he said at his introductory press conference. “It will take longer than building it on stilts, but when it’s built, it will be built forever. This is where I started; this is where I was striving to get back to. I’m thrilled to be here. It’s time.”

His arrival sparked a revival at Rutgers that has certainly had its share of speed bumps along the way, but has led to a measure of progress that has lifted the program out of the basement of the Big East Conference.

Mulcahy is understandably quick to praise the work Schiano and his staff have done in just five seasons.

“We had no progress before that,” he said. “The key to recruiting is twofold: one, you have to have that tradition of winning and going to bowl games; and two, you have to have the facilities. When [Schiano] came here, we had neither. Now he’s started to establish that winning tradition, and we’ve been able to raise the money and build the type of facilities that attract players.”

In fact, Rutgers now boasts one of the nation’s premier football complexes, highlighted by an expansive strength and conditioning facility, and a state-of-the-art training room. It all adds up to the type of progress Mulcahy envisioned when he hired Schiano.

“I’m very happy with where we are,” he said. “But what people need to understand is that this is just the first step. I liken building this program to that of rebuilding a bankrupt company. It’s a slippery slope, but the first step is to reopen the doors, and we’ve done that.

“When you look at Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia, they’ve all been to 15-20 bowl games over their programs’ histories,” Mulcahy added. “This was our first bowl game out of New Jersey. Do I think we have to go to 19 more bowls to get where they are? No. But we’re on our way”

The notion that Rutgers is a program on the rise is a common one among many of the people who matter most — prized recruits and the guys coaching them at the high school level.

“I think what they’ve done up there is outstanding,” said Steve Antonucci, head coach of the Middletown South football team that last month won its third consecutive state title and finished the season as the top-ranked team in the state for the second consecutive year. “They’ve created the type of atmosphere we think they deserve to have.”

Brian Russo, the head coach of Woodbridge’s football team and himself a former Division I player, agrees with Antonucci, adding that the reaction to Rutgers’ success has been noticeable on several levels.

“Everyone around here is thrilled to see the program grow like it has,” he said. “The atmosphere is really pumped up. I’ve gone to a couple of their practices, and Greg and his staff have really created a real Division I football environment. They’re doing a great job.

“I think Schiano has put himself and the program on the map. Kids are taking Rutgers seriously now.”

“I think this program is here to stay,” said Old Bridge head coach Bob DeMarco, who will be entering his 30th season as the Knights’ coach in the fall. “As Schiano said, he’s building a real solid foundation with an excellent group of kids, not just this year, but for the future.

“When he first got here, he brought in some top players, and that began to create the infrastructure for the program that has become appealing to a lot of kids. They have as nice a facility as there is in the country, and combined with the school’s excellent academic reputation, the program has a lot to offer now.

“Look at the recruiting magazines or Web sites. All the top kids are mentioning Rutgers now,” DeMarco said.

And therein lies the real measure of progress.

Homeward bound

When describing his plan for the Rutgers football program back in 2000, Schiano made it very clear what his primary objective was: Make Rutgers a magnet for New Jersey’s best players.

It’s no secret that many of the top collegiate programs in the nation are able to maintain their respective levels of excellence through their ability to recruit in their home states. Rutgers has never been able to do that.

Instead, New Jersey has long been a hotbed for recruiting, attracting top programs from throughout the nation that routinely plucked the Garden State’s elite players, while Rutgers was left sifting through the remains.

“New Jersey has so much talent,” Russo said. “You look at teams in the big bowls this year — Florida State, USC, Boston College — they all have some big-time players out of New Jersey. If Rutgers could keep them, they could eventually be in the same class.”

Schiano had immediate success in that area, signing 13 New Jersey All-State performers in 2001. However, critics remained doubtful that Jersey’s best would ever consider Rutgers one of their top choices.

But over the next four years, Schiano continued to land highly rated recruits, guys like Leonard, quarterback Ryan Hart and defensive lineman Ryan Neil (another future NFL player), laying the foundation for this year’s team.

And now that Rutgers has established itself as a program on the rise following its Insight.com Bowl performance, the question is, just how much effect will it have on future recruits?

Has Rutgers finally become an attractive option for the player that everyone wants?

Russo thinks it has.

“When you see some of the kids who are visiting Rutgers now, you know they’re going in the right direction with the program,” he said. “Rutgers has never even been a thought for a lot of these kids in the past.”

“It’s difficult,” Antonucci added. “There has always been a lot of guys leaving the state, and they’re only doing what they feel they need to do. But it’s very important for Greg to keep some of those guys here. There are a lot of great kids in New Jersey. You look at Texas, Ohio State, Michigan — they always keep kids in their state. New Jersey kids should be going to Rutgers, too.”

That thought was echoed by Brick Memorial coach Fred Sprengle, who leads one of the state’s top Group IV programs.

“There are a lot of great players [in New Jersey], and if they want to do better [getting New Jersey recruits], they have to compete with the great national programs,” he said.

But Sprengle is not sure just how much this season’s success will impact that process.

“I don’t think [the bowl game] has that much impact [on recruiting],” he said. “People don’t understand that not everyone who lives in the state may want to go to a college in the state. The success they had may swing a kid or two more [than they normally would get in recruiting]. The kids who want to go away will [still] go away.”

Sprengle’s crosstown rival, Warren Wolf, who also happens to be the winningest coach in state history, disagrees.

“No doubt playing in a bowl game will be a major asset,” Wolf said. “There’s no doubt the state of New Jersey came alive with Rutgers football, not only because it’s a great school to attend but also because it moved into prominence of the state’s attention. A lot of people became involved with it as a major university, and now more people will support the program.

“Many quality athletes from the state have gone on to play for other universities for the opportunity to play in a bowl game, and now many of them will strongly consider going to Rutgers,” Wolf added. “New Jersey has always had highly qualified players who wanted to be in bowl games years ago, and now that the program is reaching a pinnacle, they’ll strongly consider going there.

“It’s nothing but a plus and they have to take advantage of it.”

The power of persuasion

Much of Schiano and his staff’s ability to take advantage of their recent success will depend on their recruiting practices.

In the past, Rutgers has often not pursued some of the elite players in and out of the state, instead directing its attention on what the staff considered more realistic candidates.

Now, Schiano can focus his attention on players of any level, with his program’s progress and his growing reputation as one of the nation’s up-and-coming coaches as his leverage.

The question now is, how’s he doing?

According to rivals.com, one of the nation’s premier Web sites covering collegiate recruiting, Rutgers is currently ranked 48th in the nation (and third in the Big East behind Pittsburgh and Syracuse) for the players Schiano has received commitments from thus far.

With plenty of time left before all of the season’s commitments are made, RU still has plenty of time to make up some ground.

The perception among local high school coaches is pretty similar, with most coaches interviewed agreeing that Rutgers has become more aggressive under Schiano, and has raised its expectations.

“Coach Schiano has a highly competent staff that works 13 months a year to bring athletes to the program, and now they can go to parents and say they have a highly accredited program academically, but also one that is likely to play in bowl games,” Wolf said.

Dominick Lepore, the head coach at Freehold Township for the past six years, credits Schiano with changing the focus of Rutgers football by making New Jersey athletes a must, and by reaching out to the state’s coaches.