2 hours ago
Rutgers was present during the first day of Big Ten Media Days from Chicago.
On Tuesday morning, head coach Greg Schiano took the podium before joining the Big Ten Network, along with player representatives KJ Duff, Antwan Raymond, and Kwabena Asamoah.
Here is what Greg Schiano had to say during his appearances about the upcoming season.
On program changes people do not see:
"I believe strongly in protecting the football but also taking the football away. We did a great job protecting the football and I expect to do even better. It's a programmatic thing that goes throughout our entire coaching staff, every player, our trainers, our equipment manager. Anyone is allowed to coach ball security within our program. What we need to do is get better at taking the ball away. We need to get better at defense period. That is why we hired Travis Johansen as our new coordinator. I am really thrilled and excited to see the chemistry between the players and the coaches."
#better #schiano #player #protecting
On Tuesday morning, head coach Greg Schiano took the podium before joining the Big Ten Network, along with player representatives KJ Duff, Antwan Raymond, and Kwabena Asamoah.
Here is what Greg Schiano had to say during his appearances about the upcoming season.
On program changes people do not see:
"I believe strongly in protecting the football but also taking the football away. We did a great job protecting the football and I expect to do even better. It's a programmatic thing that goes throughout our entire coaching staff, every player, our trainers, our equipment manager. Anyone is allowed to coach ball security within our program. What we need to do is get better at taking the ball away. We need to get better at defense period. That is why we hired Travis Johansen as our new coordinator. I am really thrilled and excited to see the chemistry between the players and the coaches."
#better #schiano #player #protecting
4 days ago
Recently, Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano went on the Y-Option podcast, a podcast all about college football hosted by Yogi Roth, to talk about the state of the program, Schiano's optimism going forward, and how much the program has benefited from a change in leadership in the athletic department.
The podcast started with a conversational feel, with Roth asking Schiano about his personal life, his path to coaching, and how he sees his role as not just coaching the team but also helping prepare young men for life. One interesting thing they talked about during this segment was how Schiano addressed new defensive coordinator Travis Johansen's concerns about being there for his family, so he would feel comfortable making the move to Rutgers.
Schiano was also allowed to speak about the positive changes that have occurred because of the hiring of Keli Zinn and the new alignment at the university.
"We have never had vertical alignment from the president down through the athletic director to the football coach. For the first time we do, and that certainly means a lot when it comes to fundraising and NIL and all of that. But it is so much more than that. It's an attitude of excellence. It's winning is important, and the commitment to win," said Schiano. "I think Keli Zinn is going to do a great job here, and I think that President Tate understands what it takes to compete in this league."
"It might take a minute because other schools have been competing at full capacity, their might be a little lag, but we are now in the game,' said Schiano.
#Football #podcast #president #program
The podcast started with a conversational feel, with Roth asking Schiano about his personal life, his path to coaching, and how he sees his role as not just coaching the team but also helping prepare young men for life. One interesting thing they talked about during this segment was how Schiano addressed new defensive coordinator Travis Johansen's concerns about being there for his family, so he would feel comfortable making the move to Rutgers.
Schiano was also allowed to speak about the positive changes that have occurred because of the hiring of Keli Zinn and the new alignment at the university.
"We have never had vertical alignment from the president down through the athletic director to the football coach. For the first time we do, and that certainly means a lot when it comes to fundraising and NIL and all of that. But it is so much more than that. It's an attitude of excellence. It's winning is important, and the commitment to win," said Schiano. "I think Keli Zinn is going to do a great job here, and I think that President Tate understands what it takes to compete in this league."
"It might take a minute because other schools have been competing at full capacity, their might be a little lag, but we are now in the game,' said Schiano.
#Football #podcast #president #program
20 days ago
Former Rutgers football captain and defensive end Jamil Merrell passed away yesterday at the age of 36, according to a post his brother Jamal made on social media. No cause of death was made public.
Merrell played at Rutgers from 2009-2013, and served as a captain during that time. He played alongside his brother and saw playing time under both head coach Greg Schiano during his first stint and former Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood.
Merrell continued his football career after Rutgers, landing on the Chicago Bears practice squad before spending a few seasons in the AFL.
Jamal released the following statement on Facebook to honor his brother.
"As I write this, I'm sitting beside my twin brother, surrounded by our family, knowing that we're witnessing one of the hardest moments we'll ever have to face. With tears in our eyes and love in our hearts, I want everyone to know that my twin brother, Jamil, is peacefully transitioning to be with God.
Merrell played at Rutgers from 2009-2013, and served as a captain during that time. He played alongside his brother and saw playing time under both head coach Greg Schiano during his first stint and former Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood.
Merrell continued his football career after Rutgers, landing on the Chicago Bears practice squad before spending a few seasons in the AFL.
Jamal released the following statement on Facebook to honor his brother.
"As I write this, I'm sitting beside my twin brother, surrounded by our family, knowing that we're witnessing one of the hardest moments we'll ever have to face. With tears in our eyes and love in our hearts, I want everyone to know that my twin brother, Jamil, is peacefully transitioning to be with God.
1 month ago
“Rutgers financial distress doesn’t reflect apathy.”
A recent post by Scott Dochterman of The Athletic broke down the financial situation at Rutgers Athletics and compared it to that of the Maryland Athletics program, which is in a very similar situation. Despite repeating several ugly financial figures well known to the Rutgers faithful and seeming like it could be another hit piece, something that Rutgers fans know all too well, it brings up a lot of positives that make it not so. The positives that it talks about are the program’s good overall turnout at events, despite the product on the field, the good work that the current athletic department is doing behind the scenes to get Rutgers up to standard financially, and the progress they have made to achieve that.
“Rutgers’ financial distress doesn’t reflect apathy, however,” Dochterman said in his article. “Last year, the school reported 93 percent capacity at SHI Stadium for home football games despite a 5-7 record and stagnant growth in ticket sales. Its men’s basketball ticket revenue ranked seventh among Big Ten public schools during the 2025 fiscal year,”
Attendance and the overall strong capacity percentage show that the fans have not abandoned the Scarlet Knights. For football, that might not have been the case in the Ash era, or the early Schiano 2.0 era, but with the overall improvement of the team, the fans have reflected that and have shown up in response. Basketball, on the other hand, has shown strong attendance numbers throughout head coach Steve Pikiell’s tenure.
This makes it clear that fan apathy is not the major cause for the increase in the athletic department’s debt, at least from an attendance point of view.
A recent post by Scott Dochterman of The Athletic broke down the financial situation at Rutgers Athletics and compared it to that of the Maryland Athletics program, which is in a very similar situation. Despite repeating several ugly financial figures well known to the Rutgers faithful and seeming like it could be another hit piece, something that Rutgers fans know all too well, it brings up a lot of positives that make it not so. The positives that it talks about are the program’s good overall turnout at events, despite the product on the field, the good work that the current athletic department is doing behind the scenes to get Rutgers up to standard financially, and the progress they have made to achieve that.
“Rutgers’ financial distress doesn’t reflect apathy, however,” Dochterman said in his article. “Last year, the school reported 93 percent capacity at SHI Stadium for home football games despite a 5-7 record and stagnant growth in ticket sales. Its men’s basketball ticket revenue ranked seventh among Big Ten public schools during the 2025 fiscal year,”
Attendance and the overall strong capacity percentage show that the fans have not abandoned the Scarlet Knights. For football, that might not have been the case in the Ash era, or the early Schiano 2.0 era, but with the overall improvement of the team, the fans have reflected that and have shown up in response. Basketball, on the other hand, has shown strong attendance numbers throughout head coach Steve Pikiell’s tenure.
This makes it clear that fan apathy is not the major cause for the increase in the athletic department’s debt, at least from an attendance point of view.
