Rutgers’ Greg Schiano details ‘developmental program’ remarks at Big Ten Media Days

INDIANAPOLIS — Rutgers coach Greg Schiano used a significant amount of his time at Big Ten Media Days preaching patience.
As he stood behind the podium with the Big Ten championship trophy to his left, Schiano said the biggest challenge he faces is playing “in the best conference in America” — that closing the gap on opposing national title contenders comes in waves of development.
“We have to build a program that competes at that level, then some day be a championship-level program. How do you do that? You do it one step at a time. You recruit the right players and develop them. To me, that’s it,” Schiano said.
Entering the fourth year of his second stint in Piscataway, Schiano faces a critical point in his rebuild. Rutgers hasn’t had a winning record since 2014, but the development of his players has begun to turn the corner. It’s why he wanted to clarify what he means when he calls the Scarlet Knights a developmental program.
“I don’t think people truly understand when I say we’re a developmental program,” Schiano said. ‘They say ‘oh, you’re pushing the results back.’ I’m not pushing anything back.’”
To put his program’s development philosophically, Schiano said he “literally envisions a pipeline” with recruits coming in one end and veteran, NFL-ready players flowing out the other side.
“Fortunately now we have some grown men that are in the backend of the pipeline, we just have to keep pushing it out with new recruits,” Schiano said. “Will we get some guys that are ready to play right away — like (running back) Sam Brown? Sure, but a lot of the programs we compete with in the Big Ten, their entire class is those guys. That’s okay.
With upwards of seven returning starters on defense and several newcomers arriving via the transfer portal, Schiano believes the experience and depth taking the field in 2023 will be better than a season ago when Rutgers finished 4-8. Schiano has also build legitimate recruiting buzz and a potential top-25 ranked class for 2024.
“I say to our guys A-you got to know who you’re playing but B-more importantly, you got to know who you are,” Schiano said. “I know who we are, maybe better than anybody because I’ve done it for so long and for so many years at this place. That’s what a developmental program means. Now, if you get a streamline of guys, really talented young guys and then at the backend of the pipeline, you got some really talented developed grown men — there’s a big difference between 18-year-olds and 22-year olds. If you can get your older players to play their best football in their final season, that’s when you’re going to have a successful program, especially in a program like our’s because those are the guys that are most similar to the teams we’re competing against.”