Irrelevant List of Other Candidates I Wrote Up

So it looks like Kyle Flood will be named Rutgers' new head coach today or tomorrow. I wrote up a bunch of other guys as potential candidates, but never finished/published it. So here it is anyway.

Al Golden Head Coach Miami

The Colts Neck, NJ native has a lot of similarities to Greg Schiano. Golden is a great recruiter, a fine defensive mind, and a Joe Paterno disciple. He also lead one of the biggest turn arounds in college football, building Temple, possibly the worst program in the country, into a consistent winner. Golden has a pretty good job right now with the Hurricanes, but would Rutgers be able to lure him back to his home state? Probably not. He already turned down inquiries from his alma mater, Penn State*, but Tim Pernetti should at least make a phone call. Miami isn’t a top tier job any more. They have piss poor facilities, a fickle fan base, and have that whole Nevin Shapiro scandal on their hands.

Golden had no knowledge of the Shapiro scandal before taking over in Corel Gables, and he is certainly in a tough spot. NCAA sanctions might loom in the near future, would he really want to stay through a possible post season ban and loss of scholarships? I could see him taking a job that’s a step up and I don’t think Rutgers is one of those jobs. At best it’s a lateral move and at worst it’s a major step down, mostly because of the current state of the Big East.

  *Do yourself a favor and watch the linked video

K.C. Keeler Head Coach Delaware

Keeler has been a small school head coach in the north east for 19 years now, leading both Rowan (A Division 3 school in South Jersey) and Delaware to multiple playoff appearances. He has an overall head coaching record of 167-69-1, has won 7 conference championships and 1 national championship.

At Delaware Keeler’s teams ran a no huddle spread offense, and I’m not sure if he would bring that to Rutgers. That offense didn’t work too well at Rutgers with former Blue Hen offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarroca, but who knows if it was the offense or just Ciarocca’s ineptitude. I really have no idea how hands on Keeler is with his offense and/or defense, but he was a linebacker in his playing days and an offensive assistant as a coach. It’s always nice having a head coach who knows what he’s doing on both sides of the ball. He has a good track record as a head coach and ties to the north east. He is a rock solid candidate.

Darren Rizzi Special Teams Coordinator Miami Dolphins

I didn’t know who Rizzi was before Thursday, but I saw Bruce Feldman and Aditi Kinkhabwala mention him a possibility on Twitter. Rizzi served as Greg Schiano Special Teams coordinator from 2002-2007, He also held various other roles on the staff, before becoming the head coach at his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island. Rizzi had a disastrous tenure there, finishing 3-9 in his only season. He has spent the last 3 years coaching special teams for the Dolphins. His other previous head coaching experience was at New Haven from 1999-2001, where he went 15-14.

His head coaching track record isn’t great, but he has been a solid assistant, knows the culture of Rutgers football, and knows the north east.

Tom Bradley Former Defensive Coordinator/Interim Head Coach Penn State

Bradley was long believed to be the successor to Joe Paterno at Penn State, but once the Jerry Sundusky allegations rocked the program and university to its core, Penn State decided to bring in an outsider to run the program. Bradley was a Penn State lifer, playing under and coaching with Joe Paterno from 1977-2011. It is believed that he turned down head coaching opportunities on the past to stay at Penn State (Including UConn, Pitt and Temple last year), in hopes of one day succeeding Paterno.

Bradley is as responsible as any one for turning Penn State into Linebacker U, recruiting and coaching the likes of Shane Conlin, LaVar Arrington, Paul Posluszny, Dan Coner, and Sean Lee. He has as much clout as any recruiter in Western Pennsylvania, but he has not really recruited eastern PA or New Jersey. It is very possible that he would keep Cignetti, Haftely and Angilico on staff, due to their ties in the area. “Scrap” has all of 4 games of head coaching experience, but he is a great defensive mind who learned under the best coach of all time, and is well respected by basically everyone.

Tim Murphy Head Coach Harvard

119-59 at Harvard, winning 6 Ivy League titles

 Joe Susan Head Coach Bucknell

Rutgers' tight ends coach from 2001-2009. 17-15 as a head coach.

Frank Cignetti Offensive Coordinator Rutgers

Pretty good coordinator ready for a head coaching job.

Greg Roman Offensive Coordinator San Fransisco 49ers

South Jersey native, was at Stanford under Harbaugh.

Non Serious Candidates

Greg Toal Head Coach Don Bosco
Too big of a jump. See: Faust, Gerry.

Jim Tressel Former Head Coach Ohio State
He would still be under NCAA sanctions. His best bet is in the NFL.

Charlie Weis Head Coach Kansas
Just took the job at Kansas, but Rutger is his "Dream Job"™, since he is a Jersey native and coached at the HS level in NJ.

Jon Gruden Former Head Coach Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It’s obligatory that he is mentioned in every head coachingsearch.

FWIW, my initial wish list went like this: Golden, Cristobal, Addazio, Franklin, Bradley, Keeler, Murphy, Flood, Cignetti, Diaco, Roman, Flarhety, Rizzi, Susan, Weis, Toal, Gruden, Tressel.