Rutgers football participated in the first day of the Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas, Nevada. Greg Schiano, along with five other Big Ten head coaches, had press conferences broadcast live on Big Ten Network addressing the state of their programs as a new football season approaches quickly.
After thanking Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, new Rutgers President William Tate, and Chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors Amy Towers, Schiano discussed the three players he brought along with him to Las
Vegas: quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, wide receiver Ian Strong, and linebacker Dariel Djabome.
On Kaliakmanis, Strong, and Djabome:
“Today we bring three great representatives of our football program, Athan Kaliakmanis, our quarterback, who’s transferred in and has become literally the leader of our program, and this is definitely his football team. Wide receiver Ian Strong, who I think has just grown consistently since he arrived, and this will be his third season with us and is, I think, an excellent football player and a great young man.
And then linebacker DJ Djabome, who is from Canada, came down. It’s a great story. DJ came down to go to one of our football camps and drove down from upstate New York and didn’t have a hotel room, so he, his coach, and two teammates slept in a car in late July. He went through our camp and did a great job. We offered him. We brought his family down on a visit immediately, and he started with us in training camp a couple weeks later. And now to be standing here at Big Ten Media Days and DJ representing us, it’s a great, great story.”
Question #1: Coach Schiano, Rutgers returned to bowl contention in 2024 with disciplined defense and ball security principles with just two fumbles and seven interceptions all season. With some returning starters and a sharper focus on creating takeaways, what specific areas are you targeting this offseason to push the program from good to constantly elite?
From Schiano’s answer: “The ball is the program at our place. So there’s a huge amount of emphasis on that. We came back to Rutgers, we were dead last. You could barely see it from there. We slowly climbed our way back to the middle of the league. I didn’t come back for that. I came back to win a championship. That might sound funny to some who follow college football but that’s what we’re going to do. I can’t tell you when that’s going to happen but that’s why we’re back. All the things that you need to climb the ladder, and that’s what we do. We just come in every day and try to get a little bit better. Can’t have any backslides.”
Question #2: Just obviously rebuilding the program. You talked last year about winning the state back and recruiting. Obviously, the transfer portal is a huge factor. Losing guys, you lose your all-time. One of your best rushers in school history to the NFL. So how did you kind of navigate NIL and the portal and all those different things to fill the roster you have right now?
From Schiano’s answer: “It still comes down to finding the right fit for your program. What is fit? Fit is culture. Fit is athletic ability. Fit is student athlete. What kind of student? Can he fit in? Can he do the work at Rutgers in the classroom? And that’s always going to be our primary focus. Do I wish we had some more money when the NIL stuff was going on? Absolutely. Who doesn’t? But at the end of the day, players and families are going to entrust us with their sons. If they know they’re going to be treated well, they’re going to develop, not only on the field but off the field, and that’s what we can promise.”
Question #3: So you being a veteran coach, being around for years, like you said, what’s your thoughts on college football with the salary cap, with the revenue sharing and everything? What’s your thoughts on that?
From Schiano’s answer: “Look, I think college football’s in a great place, and I know a lot of people like to moan and groan about things that are different. We need to just let things settle down and figure out if what we’ve done, what the court system has done, is it going to allow us to kind of find a level where we can go out and perform, where we can go out and have the kind of teams and programs and leagues that we want to have. I think tweaking things too early, let’s see how it works out right now. We did a lot. Let’s settle down and see how this works. All those things are great and they need to be taken care of”.
Schiano also spoke to a small group of local reporters at a meeting Tuesday morning, with a topic of importance being the ongoing athletic director situation, with a void at the permanent AD position and with promising candidate Brian Lafemina pulling his name out of consideration. Matthew Colagiovanni was recently appointed to the role of interim athletic director, most recently having served as deputy athletic director of facilities, capital projects, and internal operations at Rutgers.
“I have not spent a lot of time worrying about it. I have a lot of faith in Amy (Towers), and now President Tate, and the board will choose the right person. Now that President (William) Tate’s on board, now President Tate will handle it. I have total faith that they’re going to pick the right person for Rutgers,” Schiano affirmed to local media.
With training camp fast approaching for Rutgers and programs around the nation, Greg Schiano has expressed an important vote of confidence in university leadership, his football team, and the changes undergoing college football. The Scarlet Knights can start their fall practices as early as July 28th, with their opening game taking place on Thursday, August 28th against the Ohio Bobcats at SHI Stadium.
