In my first three years at Rutgers, the years preceding Greg Schiano’s arrival, the team won exactly one game.  Nobody went to games and it went without saying that other regional powers like Syracuse and Pittsburgh would routinely beat us.  When I was a sophomore Donovan McNabb put up more than 70 points in the Rutgers defense.

Schiano changed all of that.  I was at the Cook Campus Center more than ten years ago when athletic director Bob Mulcahey introduced coach Greg Schiano. He talked about making New  Jersey the “State of Rutgers.”  The new coach immediately went on a charm offensive to change the culture of the school and the football program.  He recruited well, getting home grown talent to play for the state school.  Within a few years the school was starting to win its share of games.  In 2005 Rutgers made its first bowl game since the 1970s.  In 2006 the team cracked the top 25.  After Rutgers beat #3 Louisville and was ranked as high as 7th in the nation, the Empire State Building was lit up Rutgers scarlet.  I lived in Manhattan at the time and when I saw that Rutgers had gotten New York City’s attention, I was never more proud to have been an RU alum.  Rutgers now regularly runs a winning record and goes to bowl games.  Twice the team has been within a victory of a Big East Title and BCS berth.

So thank you, Coach Schiano.  You’ve made New Jersey relevant in college sports again.  I understand that coaching an NFL team is probably a dream of yours and I wish you success.  I’m sorry to see you go and I don’t think the team will be the same without you.