After months of waiting, and after an abundance of angst and uncertainty, Mel Tucker will take the field as Head Football Coach on October 24, 2020 when the Spartans host Rutgers at Spartan Stadium.
Football coaches don’t live with fear in their hearts, but Rutgers is probably the single opening opponent Mel Tucker dreads the most, because it’s a game he is supposed to win, but it’s an opponent with an abundance of “unknowns”, so this will be the moment of truth.
Rutgers will be led by Greg Schiano, another first year Head Football Coach, but Greg Schiano isn’t just any, garden variety first year Head Coach. Greg Schiano has pedigree, in fact he has impeccable pedigree and he is a living legend in the State of New Jersey.
The Greg Schiano file:
Greg Schiano has compiled 31 years of coaching experience, and that includes 167 games as a Head Football Coach, of which 135 games were at the helm of Rutgers from a previous tenure.
For 11 years, from 2001 to 2011, Greg Schiano guided Rutgers Football, and turned Rutgers Football from a dreadful, derelict and moribund program into a winner.
Prior to Greg Schiano, Rutgers only compiled 4 winning seasons in the previous 20 years, and Rutgers had only been to one Bowl Game since it began playing football in 1869, and that was in 1978 when they played in the Garden State Bowl and lost to Arizona State 18-34.
But as we look closer, in the 5 years preceding Greg Schiano, Rutgers compiled an dismal overall record of 11-44 (20%), so it demanded a coach who was either desperate or supremely confident to take the Rutgers job, and Greg Schiano was the latter.
Greg Schiano had the audacity to take a job in 2001 that virtually no one wanted. Of course, Schiano’s success wasn’t immediate but he started to lay the foundation immediately. It took Greg Schiano 5 years to post a winning record, and in 2005 he posted a record of 7-5, but then he never looked back.
In Greg Schiano’s final 6 seasons, Rutgers compiled a record of 49-28 overall (64%) including 5 Bowl Victories. That may not seem like a remarkable record at most Power 5 schools, but at Rutgers, that record was, and still is, legendary.
After resurrecting Rutgers from the ashes, Greg Schiano was in great demand. He was hired by Tampa Bay of the NFL to work his magic but very few college Head Football coaches successfully make the transition from college to professional, and that applied to Greg Schiano as well. The expectations were exceedingly high at Tampa Bay, but Greg Schiano only compiled a record of 11-21 (34%) in two seasons. and he was terminated.
But college football and coaching Defense is Schiano’s “sweet spot” and he returned to college football as Assistant Head Football Coach & Defensive Coordinator at Ohio State from 2016 to 2018 under Urban Meyer whereby the Buck’s compiled an extraordinary record of 36-5 overall, including 3 Big Ten East titles, 2 Big Ten Conference Titles, 2 Bowl Victories, and 3 Top 10 finishes.
Moreover, the recent tenure at Ohio State means Greg Schiano has great familiarity with the “strengths, weaknesses & tendencies” of most Big Ten coaching staffs.
First year Coach with an asterisk*:
So while Greg Schiano is officially an first year Head Football Coach at Rutgers, it’s important to note that he’s a “returning” Head Coach with vast experience and an incredible resume.
Just as importantly, Greg Schiano was born and raised in New Jersey and so he has great familiarity with Rutgers and its environs as well: let’s just say he doesn’t need a campus map to find Rutgers Stadium. Moreover, Greg Schiano knows the New Jersey culture, and because of his previous tenure he knows how to get things done.
New Jersey is a talent rich football state, and Greg Schiano not only knows the recruiting landscape of talent rich New Jersey, but he also knows how to tap into talent rich Philadelphia and New York City both of which are less than an hour away. In fact, he has already begun to harvest some of that talent for 2021.
But this is 2020, and while it took Greg Schiano a few years to get settled during his first tenure at Rutgers, now he returns to Rutgers 20 years later with an abundance of Head Coaching experience and a cadre of Assistant Coaches most of whom are from the New Jersey metro area and all of whom are familiar with Rutgers roster and the wherewithal to get the most from a roster of untapped talent.
It’s not my intent to go “over the top” with accolades for an opposing coaching staff, but it’s important to know as much as possible about the opponent.
Can’t win Scenario?
So, after all the turmoil leading up to the 2020 Big Ten Football season, Rutgers looms as the most problematic “opener” for Spartan Football in recent memory, especially the Spartans first year Head Football Coach, because it’s nearly a “can’t win” scenario.
If the Spartans beat Rutgers in the opening game at Spartan Stadium there won’t be many accolades because it’s a game the Spartans are supposed to “win”.
But given the balance of the 2020 schedule (scroll down) which gets tougher with each succeeding week, if the Spartans come up short against Rutgers, then it will be hard to find optimism for the balance of the 2020 football season going forward.
At the bottom line:
After months of angst and uncertainty, this is the moment of truth for Mel Tucker and his coaching staff, and the Spartans need to step tall on October 24. Let’s hope they do.
Thank you for reading. I welcome your comments & opinions.
Spartans 2020 Football Schedule:
Oct. 24: vs. Rutgers
Oct. 31: at Michigan
Nov. 7: at Iowa
Nov. 14: vs. Indiana
Nov. 21: at Maryland
Nov. 28: vs. Northwestern
Dec. 5: vs. Ohio State
Dec. 12: at Penn State
Dec. 19: TBA
