Steve Pikiell opened up his first real day of recovery the way he opens so many things in life - with a joke, a little defiance and a clear sense of perspective.
“I ate some pancakes!” he said over the phone on Thursday afternoon, saying it was his first real food since chemotherapy began last week. “And I’m not running to the bathroom, throwing up.
“So, yeah, this is a good day.”
That kind of line has long been part of what made the Rutgers coach such a strong fit with the fan base. Even now, after a cancer diagnosis that forced him into the public eye, the same dry humor is still there. He had hoped to keep the illness private, but once he knew he would miss games, that was no longer possible.
Pikiell spoke in one of his first interviews since Rutgers announced his diagnosis exactly one month ago, and part of his purpose was simple: he wanted to thank the people who had reached out with support.
“I’m not dead,” he said, briefly channeling the Black Knight from Monty Python. “People think cancer, you’re dead.
Well, I’m very much alive. As a matter of fact, my wife would tell you I’m as big a pain in the ass as I was before.”
The conversation, though light at times, was never just about getting through one afternoon. Pikiell wants to turn the attention around his illness into something useful, and he plans to push that platform toward cancer research.
He and his wife, Kate, are starting things off with a $250,000 donation to the Rutgers Cancer Center. That gift will launch “Rutgers Tough,” a campaign meant to raise money and awareness for cancer.
The idea took shape when he arrived for one of his first treatments this summer and had to park so far away that, in his words, he wondered whether he needed a helicopter to get to the waiting room.
“I’m just mind boggled that I can’t even find a parking space,” Pikiell said. “And the building has a million parking spaces, right? I’m just blown away by how much cancer is out there and, and how many people are (impacted).”
He said the name fit because it speaks to a message he already uses with his players.
“There’s tough, and then there’s Rutgers Tough,” he said. “I say that to my players all the time.
You got to be Rutgers Tough. And I think too, fighting cancer, you just gotta be Rutgers tough.
It’s not just the regular tough that everyone talks about.”
Pikiell said helping people without insurance who are fighting cancer is his “next mission.” He also made it plain that any additional financial backing would be welcomed.
“That would be a win for Rutgers,” he said. “That’d be a win for me.”
He did not go deep into the specifics of his diagnosis. Pikiell said he had been feeling great this summer when his wife noticed changes in his appearance.
A hospital visit led to the discovery of a tumor, and doctors later removed all of the cancer during a lengthy surgery. Chemotherapy is still required as a precaution.
He is scheduled for 12 rounds of treatment over six months, a stretch that runs right into March Madness. He said Round 1 was a TKO, but he hopes to be well enough to make it to as many practices as possible.
Whether he coaches games or not will depend on his doctors and, as he put it, his new bosses.
“I’m gonna listen to my doctors,” Pikiell said. “That’s one thing I’ve had to learn (how to do), because I’m usually the one shouting the orders.”
For now, he’s confident in the staff that will carry things forward, including interim coach Brandin Knight. Basketball didn’t dominate the conversation, but Pikiell said this Rutgers team is more experienced and deeper than the one that finished 14-20 overall and 6-14 in the Big Ten last season - “and our resources are certainly 100% the reason for that.”
Rutgers had about $10 million to build its roster through the transfer portal, and that gives the Scarlet Knights a chance to be something more than a basketball story. If the team reaches the NCAA Tournament, it would arrive with Pikiell’s personal fight as part of the backdrop.
Still, the focus right now is on smaller victories and the people who have offered guidance along the way.
“Coach (Jim) Calhoun has really helped me,” he said of the Hall of Fame coach at UConn, himself a cancer survivor. “He’s 85 now and he’s battled everything you can imagine. He said, ‘You’re gonna feel shitty, and when you don’t feel half shitty, that’s a good day.’”
Pikiellesque than that.
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