Ron Prince Hired as Offensive Coordinator and Other Coaching News

Rutgers officially announced Ron Prince as their new offensive coordinator yesterday, ending the month long search to fill the position after Dave Brock left to become the head coach at Delaware. Prince, who spent the last three seasons in the NFL with the Colts and Jaguars, had been the presumed favorite for the job, and he accepted the position after interviewing and being passed over for the running back coach opening with the New Orleans Saints.

While not a super flashy hire, Prince is a pretty solid addition to the Scarlet Knights coaching staff. He has very good track record coaching offenses from his time as the coordinator at Virginia (2003-05) and the head coach at Kansas State (2006-08), and an extensive background running a pro style offense. As a former offensive line coach, he prefers to run the ball down your throat, and although his offenses have been successful for the most part, he has drawn some criticism for being too conservative. Being conservative is not necessarily a bad thing though, and Rutgers is capable of being very good offensively while relying heavily on their rushing attack. They have done a great job recruiting premium offensive lineman the last few years, and Savon Huggins is a work horse type back who gets stronger as the game goes along. Including Prince, Rutgers will have five current or former offensive line coaches on their staff, so expect for the offense to be very tough and physical.

Kyle Flood sees Prince as someone who can utilize all of their personnel packages and get the ball into the hands of their play-makers. That very well could just be coach speak, but Prince's NFL experience likely taught him a lot about deploying personnel packages and that should help Rutgers quite a bit in this department. The coaching staff struggled getting some people, i.e. Miles Shuler, the ball last season, so it's nice to see them make a concerted effort to fix it.

Personally, I was hoping that Rutgers would hire someone who is very good at developing quarterbacks, since Gary Nova (who clearly has talent but needs to be coached better in order to take the next step) will be a big part of what Rutgers does the next two seasons, but I've gradually talked myself into liking Prince since the rumors started. He has had some pretty good quarterbacks under his watch in Matt Schuab, Marques Haggans and Josh Freeman, but he is not very hand on with them, and he had really good quarterback coaches working with him in Mike Groh (who is now an assistant at Alabama) and James Franklin (who is now the head coach at Vanderbilt).

Prince's reputation has been mired a bit lately due to his poor tenure as a head coach, but his track record with offenses make him a pretty solid hire. He has plenty of experience calling plays and he will keep the pro style offense intact while putting his own spin on things. He also happens to be a pretty good recruiter, and he is someone who will likely stick at Rutgers for more than one season. Prince almost certainly will be an upgrade over Brock. He inherits a talented group that struggled at the end of last season, and it's up to him to get them to succeed up to their capabilities.

Elsewhere on the coaching staff, Dave Cohen was promoted to defensive coordinator, as expected. Cohen was a very successful coordinator at Delaware, but he did struggle a bit at Western Michigan for a multitude of reasons (some not his fault). He did a solid enough job coaching linebackers last year to earn the promotion, and he should be competent enough to do a good job. He knows what he's doing in this role and he should be able to keep the same scheme Schiano and Robb Smith ran in place. He will certainly have plenty of talent to work with.

And in a very surprising turn of events, tight end coach Darnell Dinkins has left the program to "pursue other opportunities." He seemed to be developing into a very good recruiter in Florida, and the timing of this is very odd. I suppose he may have a job lined up in the NFL or something, but there's a possibility he could have been let go for some reason. This is very strange, just totally out of left field.

Replacing him on the coaching staff is Anthony Campanile, who will coach wide receivers in addition to tight ends. I'm not sure why Prince wasn't given tight end responsibilities (a lot of offensive line coaches coach tight ends), but an assistant coaching two position groups isn't unheard of, especially when the two positions are very similar like tight ends and receivers are. Campanile was a graduate assistant at Rutgers last year working on the defensive side of the ball, but he does have experience coaching offense from his time as the offensive coordinator at Don Bosco. His promotion should be a huge boon to Rutgers recruiting wise, since he has the makings of a top recruiter with his very strong ties to the power house high school programs in North Jersey (he coached at Bosco, his brother is the head coach at Bergen Catholic and his dad was the head coach at Paramus Catholic).

In addition to all these moves, running back coach Norries Wilson was given the title of assistant head coach. That essentially just means he's second in command.

Kyle Flood didn't expect to have any changes to his coaching staff at the beginning of the offseason, but as often happens in the coaching profession, things changed in a hurry. In finalizing the staff, Rutgers brought in a new offensive coordinator who is probably an upgrade (Prince), and two very good recruiters (Campanile and Darrell Wilson), while also promoting a capable coach to defensive coordinator (Cohen) after Robb Smith left for the NFL. I think Flood did a really good job with all of these hires, and Rutgers will be better for it on the field and on the recruiting trail.

Quick Notes: Big 10 Scheduling and a Transfer

-The Big 10's athletic directors (including Tim Pernetti) held a meeting in Chicago last weekend, and and they agreed on a couple future scheduling revisions, that will not become official until this summer. The AD's, along with league commissioner Jim Delany, have decided to expand each team's conference slate from 8 games to either 9 or 10, and they also agreed to no longer schedule FCS (D1-AA) teams. These rule will probably not be implemented until 2016.

A nine game conference schedule is much preferable to eight, but a ten game conference schedule just seems excessive. The Pac 12 and Big 12 both play nine game conference schedules, and ten games would be setting new ground. Most athletic departments need seven home games to balance their budget, so being locked in to five conference road games a year would likely prevent teams from scheduling home and home series with major programs from other leagues. A nine game schedule gives you the flexibility to schedule out of conference road games on they years you have five conference home games, and it still allows you to play every team in the other division every two or three years or so (assuming they get rid of the cross over rivalry rule).

Not scheduling FCS teams anymore is a good idea in theory, but it may not be for the best in practice. This move probably is intended to improve strength of schedule, but if teams are going to schedule cream puffs from a non power conference instead, it's not going to have that big of an impact. Additionally, playing FCS teams usually allows you to get a look at your back ups and youngsters when the game gets out of hand, and not that it really matters from the Big 10's perspective, but the pay outs from these games are extremely important for the FCS programs' financial health.

 -Punter Nick Marsh has transferred from Utah to Rutgers. Marsh will have one year of eligibility remaining, and he can play right away, since he is receiving his undergraduate degree from Utah this spring. Rutgers was targeting a punter in this recruiting cycle, and they will end up with Marsh after Australian Dean Crozier was not cleared to play by the NCAA. The Knights now has three kicking specialists on scholarship, and that's really not ideal, even though Marsh will only be there for one year. Marsh was primarily the kick off specialist and rugby punter at Utah, and he will presumably have full time punting duties at Rutgers.

Darrell Wilson Hired as Defesnive Backs Coach

Rutgers announced the addition of new defensive backs coach Darrell Wilson to the coaching staff on Wednesday, filling one of the two positions Robb Smith had before leaving for the NFL. Wilson, who is from Camden, NJ, joins the Scarlet Knights after spending 11 seasons on Kirk Ferentz's staff at Iowa, and he brings a lot to the table for Scarlet Knights. He not only has a wealth of experience coaching  in the Big 10, which Rutgers will of course be joining in 2014, but a lot of success recruiting in the State of Rutgers (most notably in South Jersey) as well. This is a very good addition to the staff, and it signifies that Rutgers will promote from with in for the defensive coordinator vacancy.

Wilson began his coaching career as the head coach at Woodrow Wilson High in Camden, and he spent eight season there before moving on to Rhode Island, where he coached wide receivers and defensive backs. In 1999, he spent one season coaching running backs at Rutgers under Terry Shea, prior to becoming the outside linebacker coach and special teams coordinator at Wisconsin. He was with the Badgers for two years and he joined the Hawkeyes' staff in the same capacity in 2002. As a player, Wilson was a defensive back at Connecticut, and he played a few years professionally in the CFL.

At Iowa, Wilson had a very good run while having various responsibilities on the coaching staff. His special teams units were pretty good throughout his tenure, and he coached Chad Greenway up into a first round pick while he was the outside linebackers coach. In 2008, he began coaching all the linebackers, and Tyler Nieson and AJ Edds became all Big 10 selections under his watch. He served as an interim defensive coordinator in 2010 when legendary Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker dealt with a health issue, and he moved over to coach defensive backs coach in 2012. Ferentz is in the process of rearranging his staff, and he reportedly wanted Wilson to coach running backs, but he decided to accept the position at Rutgers instead. That's very understandable, given the AIRBHG.

The area where Wilson will help Rutgers out the most is in recruiting. He was named one of the 25 best recruiters in the nation in 2011 by Rivals, and he has very strong ties to the top high school programs in South Jersey, thanks to his Camden roots. While with the Hawkeyes, he was able to land quite a few players from South Jersey, including running backs Albert Young (Moorestown HS) and Shonn Greene (Winslow HS). He also recruited Pennsylvania and Maryland (he almost got 5 star OT Cyrus Kouandjio, who starts at Alabama, from there) while at Iowa, and a number of Scarlet Knight players have a good relationship with him from when he was recruiting them.

This move also seems to indicate that Dave Cohen will in fact be promoted to defensive coordinator. Nothing has officially been announced yet on that front, but they can only add one more assistant coach, and that will be whoever the new offensive coordinator is.

Wilson is a very good hire by Kyle Flood, and his recruiting prowess and Big 10 experience should help the Scarlet Knights a lot moving forward. Hiring a coach away from another BCS conference school for a similar position is kind of a big deal, as that is something that signifies your emergence into becoming a big time program. Wilson rounds out a defensive staff that is still very solid after Smith's departure, and he will have his work cut out for him in his first season, coaching what will be an inexperienced group.

Robb Smith Leaves Rutgers for the Buccaneers

Rutgers defensive coordinator and secondary coach Robb Smith has left the program to become the linebacker coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Lucci broke the news last week, and Smith will become the 10th former Scarlet Knight assistant to join old boss Greg Schiano's staff. He will take over the role former Rutgers assistant Bob Fraser had before being promoted to assistant defensive coordinator. (The Bucs now have Fraser as the assistant defensive coordinator, Bill Sheridan as the defensive coordinator, and Butch Davis as a consultant, in addition to Schiano, who is very hands on with the defense and calls the play. Talk about too many cooks in the kitchen.) 

Losing Smith is a huge blow to Rutgers' coaching staff, both on the field and on the recruiting trail. He did a great job in his lone season as defensive coordinator in 2012, devising very good game plans and making necessary in game adjustments. He oversaw a Scarlet Knight defense that finished in the top 10 nationally in both scoring and total defense and was named a semi-finalist for the Broyles award for his work. Smith was also one of Rutgers' top recruiters, responsible for mainly Central Jersey and Jersey Shore prospects.

Smith began coaching at Rutgers in 2009 as the special teams coordinator, and he was promoted to defensive coordinator before last season. He was the last remaining disciple of Schiano's fast, attacking style of defense on the staff, and he kept that scheme in place while also putting his own spin on things. He didn't blitz as much as Schiano had in the past, and he tinkered with a few different fronts, including the 4-3 under which they used a lot latter in the season. His best game as defensive coordinator was probably against Arkansas, when he switched to a three man front in the second quarter after the defense had some early troubles defending the deep ball. The extra defensive back or linebacker in the base defense helped slow the high powered Arkansas passing attack down, allowing Rutgers' offense the opportunity to come back and win. He did a really good job holding things together on the defensive side of the ball after an off season full of turnover, and I wish him the best of luck in Tampa.

In replacing Smith, Kyle Flood will most likely elect to promote from within, to keep the fast, attacking style of defense in place. Rutgers has successfully run this type defense for over a decade, so why fix it if it ain't broke? Linebacker coach Dave Cohen is the favorite to fill the position, and hopefully he learned enough in his one year under Smith to keep the current scheme fully intact.

Cohen was very solid as Rutgers linebacker coach in 2012 and he has plenty of coordinating experience from his time at Delaware and Western Michigan. His defenses struggled at Western, but he didn't exactly have a ton of talent (even by MAC standard) on an inexperienced group in that weird, high scoring league. He did have a lot of success with the Blue Hens though, enough to earn him the head coaching position at Hoftra. If he is promoted, graduate assistant Anthony Campanile would probably take over as the defensive backs coach. Campanile was a linebacker/safety at Rutgers from 2001-2004, and has the makings of an ace recruiter, based on his youth and ties to New Jersey's top high school programs (he was an assistant coach at Don Bosco, his dad was the head coach at Paramus Catholic and his brother is the head coach at Bergen Catholic).

If they do decide to hire from outside the program, former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley is probably the best option available. Former Boston College defensive coordinator and head coach Frank Spaziani, who is a New Jersey native, is another possibility.

Promoting Cohen is probably the best choice for Rutgers right now. He is a qualified for the position, he can potentially keep the defensive schemes Rutgers has run for a long time intact and promoting him would save money you can spend on an offensive coordinator. Bumping Campanile up into a full-time assistant role would likely improve Rutgers instate recruiting as well. Losing Smith sucks, but Rutgers still has a lot of talent on defense and they should be alright moving forward with whoever the coordinator is.

Ron Prince Emerges as the Favorite in Rutgers' OC Search

Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood interviewed Jacksonville Jaguars assistant offensive line coach Ron Prince for the offensive coordinator position on Tuesday, according to Pete Rossel of Coaching Search. Tom Luicci confirmed this news on Thursday, and it appears that Prince is the favorite to land the job. Prince was most notably the head coach at Kansas State from 2006-2008, and he compiled a 17-20 record with the Wildcats before being fired and subsequently turned into an internet meme. Dave Brock coached under him for two seasons in Manhattan, and it would not surprise me if he recommended him when he departed for Delaware.

Offense was never the problem for Prince at K-State, as his offenses ranked 69th, 18th and 19th nationally in scoring offense with Josh Freeman at the helm, and he has a very strong track record as an assistant. He coached offensive lineman at Virginia from 2001-2005, and he did a great job recruiting and developing players at the position. D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Brandon Albert, and Eugene Monroe all became first team all ACC selections and first round picks in the NFL draft under his tutelage, and Prince's efforts earned him coordinating duties in 2003. During his three seasons as a play caller, the Hoos finished 48th, 28th and 59th nationally in scoring offense, with Matt Schaub and Marques Hagans at quarterback. Prince ran a traditional style of offense, relying heavily on the ground game to set up deep play action passes, some what similar to what Rutgers has done over the years. The main difference though is he used a man run blocking scheme, which is different from the zone blocking Flood utilizes. As a play caller, Prince is very conservative, running a ton of draws on third downs.

Additionally, Prince is considered to be a very good recruiter, and he has some ties with in the state of Rutgers. While at Virginia, he was responsible for landing Ferguson, Albert (a 4 star prospect) and Monroe (a 5 star prospect), and they are from Long Island, Rochester and Plainfield, NJ respectively. At Kansas State, he loaded up on JUCO players, but he did land Freeman, who was a highly sought after recruit and unearth Collin Klien, who had no other FBS offers.

Prince is from Junction City, Kansas, and he played at Dodge City Community College and Appalachian State. He coached offensive lineman at Alabama A&M, South Carolina State, James Madison and Cornell prior to his time at Virginia.

Prince would be a pretty solid hire for the Scarlet Knights, but he's not really an ideal fit for a variety of reasons. Rutgers' problems on offense last season were being overly conservative and not properly developing Gary Nova, and Prince won't help in either area. He is an overly conservative play caller himself and would presumably not be very hands on with Nova. He would also probably have to take over Brock's other responsibility of coaching wide receivers, and that's not something he has ever done before. Prince is very capable of being a quality coordinator, he could help in recruiting, and he would probably be in for the long haul, but I just don't think he's a great fit for Rutgers right now.

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 Rossel also reported on Friday that former Virginia running back coach Mike Faragalli interviewed for the offensive coordinator job at Rutgers. Faragalli was with the Cavaliers from 2010-2012, and he has 24 years of coordinating experience. He spent eight seasons at Bowling Green, and the Falcons lead the MAC in scoring offense in four of those seasons, and a decade at the FCS level with Lafayette and Richmond. He also has an extensive background coaching in the Canadian Football League, where he won a Grey Cup as a coordinator with the Hamilton Tigercats. In 1995, he was the head coach of the Toronto Argonauts

Faragalli turned down the offensive coordinator job at Boston College a year a go, and he was one of the many fall guys on the UVA staff after Mike London's squad disappointed in 2012. He is presumably versed in the traditional style of offense, and he has coached quarterbacks before. His background in Canada makes him an intriguing option, as that league is known for its creative, wide open offenses.

A Quiet National Signing Day in Piscataway

Rutgers officially announced their 2013 recruiting class on Wednesday, and there were no surprises, good or bad. The 17 members of the class who are not yet enrolled at the school signed their National Letter of Intent to formally become Scarlet Knights, and there were no last minute additions to the class.

Don Bosco defensive end Al-Quandin Muhammad stuck with his commitment to Miami, University School (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) linebacker Skai Moore unsurprisingly chose South Carolina, and Cedar Creek quarterback Damon Mitchell picked Arkansas over Rutgers. Texas punter Shane Tripucka decided to walk on at Texas A&M and Ade Aruna signed with Tulane.

As for former Rutgers targets, Immokalee, FL corner back Mackensie Alexander finally decided on Clemson, and his twin brother Mackenro pledged his allegiance to Auburn. St. Peter's defensive back DJ Singleton signed with Wisconsin, Tampa, FL tight end Travis Johnson picked Cincinnati (I guess Tommy Tuberville didn't walk out on a dinner with him), Staten Island running back Augustus Edwards chose Miami, and Immaculata defensive end Tashawn Bower signed with LSU.

Rutgers' rank dropped a few spots in the national rankings after they did not add anyone on the final day of this recruiting cycle. They had the 36th best class according to ESPN, the 44th best per Rivals, Scout's 31st best class and 48th best class by 247's measure. This class was very solid, but not great, for the Scarlet Knights and I'll have a full recap of it at some point in the coming days.

National Signing Day Preview

This picture has nothing to do with Rutgers, it's just really awesome

Tomorrow is national signing day, the biggest recruiting day of the year when recruits will officially be able sign their binding letter of intent and fax (yes, fax) it to the school of their choice. Rutgers has already had five class of 2013 recruits enroll early, (Nadir Barnwell, Chris Laviano, Delon Stephenson, Dontea Ayers and Lester Liston) and the other 17 members of the class, who are only committed verbally at the moment, will sign with the Knights, barring something extremely unforeseen. The only drama for Rutgers tomorrow will be waiting on recruits who are uncommitted or committed elsewhere to make their final decisions. The class, as it stands right now, rates somewhere in the 30's nationally, according to the four major recruiting websites, and hopefully that ranking will go up with some additions tomorrow. Still on the board for Rutgers are a couple of New Jersey's top players, two highly sought after Floridians, a punter and an under the radar prospect from Big 10 land.

Egg Harbor, NJ quarterback Damon "Duwop" Mitchell has been committed to Georgia Tech since the summer, but he may have had his offer from them pulled back recently, after making an official visit to Arkansas on February 1. Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson has a policy that committed recruits who make visits elsewhere will have their scholarship offer revoked, and he appears to have followed through on that, as he brought in another quarterback and has not contacted Mitchell in a while. Mitchell did not make an official visit to Rutgers, but he made a number of unofficial visits to the school this fall, and they are very much in the mix for him. He will sit down with his mom to make his final decision before signing tomorrow. Along with Rutgers, Georgia Tech and Arkansas, he listed Iowa as a finalist.

Don Bosco defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad surprisingly made an official visit to Rutgers on February 1, despite committing to Miami at the Army All American Game. I never though Rutgers really had much of a chance with him, but this visit shows he at least has some interest in playing for the Scarlet Knights. According to Todderick Hunt, Muhammad's inner circle believes he picked Miami for "the wrong reasons" and they are pushing him towards Rutgers, although Rivals is reporting that he is still 100% committed to Miami. Odds are highly against him picking Rutgers, but the door is at least still cracked open.

Florida linebacker Skai Moore, who decommitted from Rutgers in early January, will make his final decision at 10:00 tomorrow morning on ESPNU. His family was apparently not sold on Rutgers, and they made him reconsider things less than a month after he gave his verbal commitment to the Scarlet Knights. Kyle Flood's staff has made a strong push for him since then, making multiple in-home visits and convincing him to follow through on his scheduled official visit to Piscataway on January 25 after there was speculation that he wouldn't. He will decide between Rutgers, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Arkansas, and the Gamecocks are perceived to be the favorite.

This is a very fluid situation and it may have changed by now, but Denver Kirkland shockingly listed Rutgers as a finalist a few days ago. His recruitment has taken a strange turn over the last week or so, as Miami, who he seemed to be leaning toward signing with, inexplicably pulled his offer, before re-extending it just a few days later. His high school coach is pissed about it, so the Canes are probably out of the picture. He is one of the premier offensive line prospects in the country, and I've seen various lists of finalists for him in all corners of the internet. He is probably headed to Florida State, but Arkansas, South Florida, Ole Miss, and Louisville are other possibilities, in addition to Rutgers. There is a very, very small chance he picks the Scarlet Knights though, even if they are a finalist. His only visit to the school came two summers ago when he attended the big man academy.

With committed Australian punter Dean Crozier unable to meet NCAA requirements, the Scarlet Knights have targeted Texas punter Shane Tripuka. He was an Under Armour All American and only has one scholarship offer, from Sam Houston State, although Boston College Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech all want him as a preferred walk on. He is familiar with the program and he attended the Rutgers- Arkansas game, so an offer would probably seal the deal for the Scarlet Knights.

Tulane commit Ade Arduna, a big defensive end from La Lumiere, Indiana, will also make his final decision tomorrow. He made an official visit to Rutgers on February 1, and he is also considering North Carolina State in addition to the Greene Wave and Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers has stopped recruiting a number of former targets for various reasons.

Corner back MacKensie Alexander of Imokelee, Florida was supposed to visit Rutgers on January 25, but the Knights decided to cancel the visit, according to Hunt's sources, and they presumably are no longer recruiting him or his twin brother Makenro. The twins have been very private and tough to gauge on how interested they were in each school throughout the entire recruiting process, so Rutgers just cut ties with them and focused elsewhere. That's pretty disappointing from a fan perspective, but we have no idea if something else may have gone on here.

Rutgers also canceled a visit from Staten Island running back Augustus Edwards for some reason, and tight end Trevor Johnson (Tampa, FL) is no longer being recruited after he decided to visit South Florida on the 25th instead of Rutgers.

Long time Auburn commit, defensive end Tashawn Bower of Sommerville, NJ, also appears to be out of the picture, and he will likely follow through on his commitment to Auburn.

Rutgers has a solid class and it appears they have a pretty good chance to make it better tomorrow. I think Mitchell, Arduna and Tripuka will pick Rutgers to put a bow on the class. A ranking in the 30's would be the best in the Big East and in the upper-middle echelon of the Big 10. The class is not full of stars like last year's or the year before's, but it is full of very solid players who should contribute. Some of the better players in the class are already enrolled, and there shouldn't be any last minute decommitts, so if there is any commotion coming out of the Hale Center tomorrow, it will be because something positive happened. It should be a joyful, drama free day for the Scarlet Knights.

Rutgers in the Super Bowl

The 49ers and Ravens square off tonight in the Super Bowl, and Rutgers will be well represented on both sides. Ray Rice stars at tailback for Baltimore and Alex Silvestro is on the the Ravens practice squad, while Anthony Davis is a mauling right tackle for the Niners. It should be a fun, physical game, and I will be pulling for San Francisco. Since there is a Rutgers player on each team, my hatred of Ray Lewis is the deciding factor here. I'd also like to see Randy Moss get a ring.

Prediction: 49ers 34 Ravens 24 MVP: Colin Kaepernick