After 11 in Piscataway, Greg Schiano is leaving Rutgers to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I’ll get my lazy ass to blog about Schiano’s legacy at Rutgers later, but at this time want to discuss possible replacements. It would be nice to have a new coach by National Signing Day, which is only 5 days away, but a thorough coaching search is necessary. Having the right man to run the program for the next 5-10 years or whatever is far more important than trying to save one recruiting class, no matter how great it can possibly be. You can’t rush decisions like this, just ask West Virginia.
Part 1 of this 3 part series will cover candidates rumored to be on Tim Pernetti's "short list."
Cristobal has spent 38 of his 41 years in Miami, leaving only to become Greg Schiano's offensive line coach at Rutgers, during Schiano’s first three seasons on the Banks. He parlayed his success at Rutgers into a job at Miami before taking over a mess of a program at Florida International. Cristobal inherited a 0-12 team in 2007 that was also on the heels of the infamous brawl against Miami. Making matters worse, FIU was devoid of any facilities, had just lost scholarships due to NCAA sanctions and had extremely poor performances in the class room. In his five year stint, he got a weight room built, improved the team's APR 74 points, won a conference title and earned two bowl appearances. Cristobal has totally reshaped FIU's image, turning a bunch of thugs into winners who excel on and off the field.
The biggest concern about hiring Cristobal is his lack of ties to the northeast. He doesn’t really have any inroads from his brief stint at Rutgers, so he would likely have to retain some of the current assistants to recruit the area. X’s and O’s wise, Cristobal has experience running pro-style offense and spread offenses, and he has implemented a spread attack in his time at Florida International. Cristobal is a young, energetic, hard-working coach, his ties to Florida are a plus, and if he is able to retain/bring in guys to recruit NJ, Rutgers can’t do much better.
Steve Addazio Head Coach Temple
As a Connecticut native and former Syracuse assistant, Addazio has strong ties to the north east. During his time on Urban Meyer’s staff at Florida, he won two national championships and was able to recruit north easterners like Will Hill, Aaron Hernandez, Shariff Floyd, and Joe Hadden to come south to play for the Gators. In his first year as a head coach at Temple, Addazio lead the Owls to a 9-4 record, including a blow-out win at Maryland, a near upset of Penn State, and a New Mexico Bowl Victory over Wyoming.
Addazio has a bad reputation around the blogosphere because of his time as Florida’s offensive coordinator. Yes, he is a bad coordinator and a terrible play caller, but he was a great offensive line coach, is well organized, and is a good recruiter. He would likely hand off coordinator and play calling duties like he did at Temple. He worked in a spread offense at Florida, but his background is in a pro-style offense. He was handed a talented roster when he took over at Temple and he was able to live up to expectations. Rutgers would like for him to do the same thing there.
Bob Diaco Defensive Coordinator Notre Dame
Diaco is a Ceadr Grove, NJ native and he has done a good job recruiting the north east the last two years for Notre Dame, landing 4 star safety/linebacker Elijah Shumate this year and 5 star defensive end Ishaq Williams last year. Diaco also recruited New Jersey as an assistant at Virginia and has Big East experience, spending one season as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator under Brian Kelly. He has gotten great play out of his linebackers at Notre Dame, turning Manti Te’o into an All American and future first round pick.
His defenses have always been solid to good, but his style of defense is much different than what Rutgers ran under Greg Schiano. Under Schiano, the Knights ran a 4-3 defense that blitzed a lot and played man to man coverage. Diaco runs a 3-4 front and I believe, I’m not totally sure, plays zone defenses with light blitzing. He has potential and ties to the area, but his lack of head coaching experience is a concern. Similar to Schiano when he was hired?
James Franklin Head Coach Vanderbilt
Franklin is from Eastern Pennsylvania and was previously the offensive coordinator/coach in waiting at Maryland and coached as a wide receivers coach in the NFL prior to that. In his first season at Vanderbilt he improved the Commodores from 2-10 to 6-7, including a Liberty Bowl berth. He does have recruiting ties to the north east in Maryland and Pennsylvania, but as far as I know, he has no experience recruiting New Jersey.
Schematically, Franklin’s background is in a pro-style offense, but he did run the spread at Vandy last year. Franklin is very fiery and emotional, and is very close with his players. I highly doubt that he would leave a job at an SEC program to coach in the Big East, even if it is closer to his roots.
Pat Flarhety New York Giants Offensive Line Coach
Flarhety is a Pennsylvania native and was Rutgers’ offensive line coach from 1984-1991 under Dick Anderson. He has been in the NFL since 2000, and he has also been an assistant coach at the collegiate level at Iowa, Penn State and Wake Forest. He is regarded as one of the top line coaches in the NFL and he has always produced solid lines and a bunch of Pro Bowlers. I would assume he’d run a pro-style offense if hired.
Since the Giants are in the Super Bowl, it’s unlikely that he would be able to start his job at Rutgers before National Signing Day. He also hasn’t recruited in 12 years. He seems like a bit of a long shot.
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