Greg Schiano padded Ray Rice's stats late in a win over Navy on Sept. 7. But after being criticized for a bush-league move, the Rutgers head coach only seemed even more determined to rub it in the face of an opponent.
Saturday against tiny Norfolk State, Schiano called a bevy of timeouts in short succession while his team held a 45-0 lead at the end of the second quarter. NSU coach Pete Adrian had a right to be upset, and the fact that the controversy was the lead item in the Associated Press' (usually) bland game report shows you how much this story matters. It overshadowed anything and everything that Rutgers might have achieved in this game.
Okay, coach Schiano, it's time to throw down some tough talk: before this season, you did the right things in the right way for all the right reasons at Rutgers. After several years of hard work — and justified patience from your athletic director — you've gained the right results as well. You were a model for all other coaches in every possible way.
But now, after two straight weeks of stat-padding, with one of them coming in a classic paycheck game, all the goodwill and political capital of Rutgers University's football program are being thrown out the window. This on-field controversy involving Schiano's methods (and motives) accompanies the off-field developments concerning the unruly and unbecoming behavior of the Rutgers student body at home games in Piscataway, N.J.
Coach, your reasoning after the Norfolk State game was pretty lame. You said that as long as your starters are in the game, you play the way you coach: all-out, with a complete focus on performance and excellence. That statement leaves a lot to be desired for a number of reasons.
First, you can justify leaving your starters in the game far longer than they should. If Ray Rice is on the field, you think you can do whatever you want. So you leave Rice in the game, and you do whatever you want. Twisted logic, to say the very least.
Secondly, one would think that with backups in the game, you would actually work harder as a coach. When first-string players are competing against a grossly inferior opponent, you don't need to trick up your playbook or complicate your game plan. With dominant players, you can do the simplest things and still score points. If that happens, then you can't be accused of stat-padding.
But with backup players who need exposure to live-action game management situations, it's justifiable to provide trick plays and special strategies.
Second- or third-string players deserve the right to work with the gadgets, exotics and wrinkles normally reserved for the first-teamers. If your bench-warmers get a full playbook and a complex offensive package, no opposing coach could argue: second-stringers don't get much work, so they need exposure to everything. The logic is clear and convincing.
Long story short, you can't have it both ways, Mr. Schiano: either you keep your first string in the game and don't call the timeouts, or you put in your backups and call the timeouts. If you were a really nice guy, you'd put in second-stringers and not call the timeouts, but we'll be reasonable and ask for only one action, not both. But you did neither; you kept in the first-team offense AND called the three timeouts in a 45-point game against a paycheck school whom you should treat with a little more respect. It's not just Pete Adrian who should be angry at you; it's an entire college football community that suddenly doesn't feel that Rutgers is a feel-good story anymore.
Not with the embarrassing way in which you're conducting yourself on gamedays, Mr. Schiano.
— Matthew Zemek, Foxsports.com
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