When Pat Hobbs passed on Greg Schiano in 2019, the question wasn’t just whether Rutgers got the right coach in the end. It was also whether there was anybody else out there who might have made sense for the job.
The short answer: maybe. The longer answer gets messy fast.
By the time Rutgers needed a new head coach after firing Chris Ash, there were 24 head-coaching hires in the FBS and 16 more in the FCS heading into the 2020 football season. Schiano ended up back in Piscataway after donors and other influential voices pushed for him, but the exercise of looking back at the rest of that coaching cycle raises a fair question: who else was on the board, and was Hobbs really missing out on much?
In the FBS alone, only six of those 24 hires are still in the same job at the school that brought them in: Dave Aranda at Baylor, Mike Norvell at Florida State, Eli Drinkwitz at Missouri, Ricky Rahne at Old Dominion, Jeff Traylor at Texas-San Antonio, and Schiano. Safe to say at least two of them are currently on the hot seat.
The rest of that group tells you how volatile these hires can be. Two of the coaches are no longer alive - Shawn Clark at App State and Mike Leach at Mississippi State.
Brady Hoke retired at San Diego State. Eleven were fired, or 12 if you count the one where the sides “mutually agreed” to part ways.
That list included Jeff Hafley at BC, Mel Tucker at Michigan State, and Willie Taggert at FAU.
There were also coaches who moved up or moved on to bigger jobs, including Kalen DeBoer, who went from Indiana offensive coordinator to Fresno State head coach, Ryan Silverfield, who went from Memphis deputy head coach to head coach, and Lane Kiffin, who went from FAU to Ole Miss. DeBoer, in particular, stands out in hindsight as the kind of name Rutgers could have at least considered.
The FCS side is even harder to untangle. Those 16 hires came with all kinds of twists, from resignations to administrative-contract language to other little caveats that make the whole thing feel like a paperwork maze. The clearest cases were the two coaches who were fired outright, the one who “wasn’t renewed,” and the two who are still in place: Walt Wells at Eastern Kentucky and Doug Phillips at Youngstown State.
Among the seven who moved on were Deion Sanders, who went from Jackson State to Colorado, and Bobby Petrino, who left Missouri State. Petrino’s path was especially odd: he “moved on” to become offensive coordinator at UNLV, and that lasted 21 days before he left for the same job at Texas A&M.
There were also three resignations, including one tied to a school canceling the season after the death of a player. The lower level, as the reporting makes clear, had its share of upheaval too.
So who did Rutgers really miss out on? Not Deion Sanders.
Probably not Lane Kiffin. But Kalen DeBoer, especially with hindsight, looks like a name worth wondering about - and a Big Ten guy, too.
And that’s the point with coaching searches: there are almost no perfect answers. These are human decisions, made by humans, and they come with ego, bias, bad information, and plenty of noise. You try to identify the best fit, do the homework, and hope the roll of the dice lands your way.
In Other News...
Rutgers Quarterback Debate Is Starting To Tilt One Way
A recent fan poll offered a clear read on where Rutgers supporters are leaning at quarterback, and it came after a debut that was anything but polished. Even so, AJ Surace appears to have earned the benefit of the doubt from a lot of the fan base, with the discussion centering less on what he showed right away and more on what the offense might look like if the playcalling is shaped to his strengths.
Lonergan remains part of the conversation, but the broader sentiment seems to be that Surace gives Rutgers a better chance to grow into the season. The idea is simple enough: if the staff adjusts the offense to fit him more naturally, there may be more upside there than in forcing the issue elsewhere, and that leaves the quarterback picture worth watching a little longer. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Faces A Brutal Early Test In Big Ten Opener
Rutgers opens Big Ten play with a daunting assignment against USC, a matchup that immediately tells the Scarlet Knights where they stand as conference games begin. The preview around the game leans heavily toward the Trojans, with multiple writers expecting USC to control the day by a sizeable margin, and the conversation around the contest has centered on talent, matchups and which side is more likely to dictate the pace.
For Rutgers, the intrigue is less about the prediction and more about what this early test can reveal. Conference openers tend to expose where a team is sturdy and where it is still vulnerable, and this one figures to do exactly that against a USC team that has drawn the bulk of the confidence from the panel. The only real question is whether the Scarlet Knights can make it competitive long enough to give the rest of the league something to think about. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Field Hockey Just Found Something To Build On
Rutgers field hockey walked off Alumni Turf with a convincing 7-2 win over Albany, a result that gave the Scarlet Knights their third victory of the season and offered a much-needed lift early in the fall. The attack came in waves, with Laura Loycke leading the way with three goals, Olivia Fraticelli adding two, and Anna Cogdell and Emma Uprichard each finding the cage once in a performance that looked more polished than the record has suggested so far.
Just as encouraging for Rutgers was the way it controlled the game from start to finish, outshooting Albany 23-6 and giving Emilly Nicholls enough support to finish with four saves in goal. For a team trying to find traction, this was the kind of complete effort that can carry real value beyond one afternoon, even if the bigger question is whether Rutgers can turn this into something more sustainable as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]