Imagine this 2016 Team

[rutgers4life11]

HC: Greg Schiano
DC: Greg Schiano or Robb Smith or Jeff Hafley
OC: John McNulty or PJ Fleck or Brian Angelichio or Ben McDaniels (no buy out)
STs: Phil Galiano (no buy out)
OL: Bob Bostad
QB: Mike Teel or Ben McDaniels (no buy out)
WRs: Anthony Campanile (no buy out) or Ben McDaniels (no buy out)
Strength: Jay Butler or Jeremy Cole (no buy out)
RBs: Earnest Byner
LBs: Bob Fraser (no buy out)
DBs: Jeff Hafley

Schiano brings in the RU faithful, and retains a number of his 'guys' who were on Flood's staff. A win-win, with low buyouts. This staff would be nasty

Then, take a look at a potential team for next year. I bolded every player that would be a Junior or older. It's kind of scary how seasoned of a team we could be:

OFFENSE
QB: Hayden Rettig RsJR
RB: Josh Hicks JR & Robert Martin JR
OL: Chris Muller Rs SR, Dorian Miller Rs JR, JJ Denman Rs SR, Derrick Nelson Rs SR + (Applefield, Webb, Heeman or other)
TE: Nick Arcidiacono SR or Matt Flanagan Rs JR
WRs: Carlton Agudosi Rs SR, Janarion Grant SR, Andre Patton SR

DEFENSE:
DE: Quanzell Lambert Rs SR
NT: Darius Hamilton Rs SR
DT: Julian Pinnix-Odrick Rs SR
DE: Kemoko Turay Rs JR
WLB: Steve Longa Rs SR
MLB: Isaiah Johnson SR
SLB: Eric Margolis RS SO (or other)
CB: Isiah Wharton RS SO
SS: Kiy Hester RS SO
FS: Anthony Cioffi SR
CS: Blessaun Austin SO

That could be a beast team! Look at that front 7. Imagine giving them a defensive guru for their last season. They're all 5 year players! Then on offense, you have a very veteran offensive line that'd only improve with better coaching, two great RBs (with Sneed and Goodwin as well), and many veteran receiving options.

This also doesn't include that a good head coach could immediately hit recruiting and transfers to strengthen our secondary.

As crazy as it seems for a 4-8 team... our future could be pretty bright next year with good coaching, simply because we have an experienced roster returning.

 

[RU Husky]

With GS , no better than 6-6, if they catch a few breaks.

 

[biazza38]

I like it. I wouldn't get my hopes up though

 

[gef21]

What if he starts Laviano?

 

[rutgers4life11]

What if he starts Laviano?

Ha, then I'd actually trust him. Unlike Flood, Schiano switched QBs quite often.

 

[Dr. Potato]

Would sell out every season ticket before the season started.

 

[MoobyCow]

I'm not sold that we actually have the talent to compete in the Big Ten right now. Next year we're relatively senior so it might be OK (.500ish), but the year after we appear to be F'd.

The next coach, whoever it is, is likely to have a worse year 2 than year 1.

 

[Queztastic]

You forgot to add Rashan Gary to the two-deep after the staff lands him!

 

[Dr. Potato]

They would pick up some top recruits by signing day. So that is not all you would be working with.

 

[rutgers4life11]

They would pick up some top recruits by signing day. So that is not all you would be working with.

Agreed! Keeping Rene would be huge. Flipping big OL and DB commitments (or grabbing great Jucos) could make us a brand new team next year.

People forget that this was a very, very highly recruited class. 2012 was our best in school history. These guys are players and Schiano recruited them. I think he could maximize their talent.

Yr 2 could be rough though.

 

[Dr. Potato]

Not necessarily. Players will leave between now and Feb. That will open up more scholarships. New recruits added this year will be either RS freshmen or Soph by then.

Bring back the chopper/Schiano. Stop being cheap. It will pay for itself in ticket sales and donations.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Putting way way WAY too much stock in the abilities of a lot of those kids. My Lord does the OP realize exactly how BAD we were this season and that it wasn't just about coaching? 3 YEARS OF LOUSY RECRUITING MY FRIEND.

 

[Scarlet4ever]

No thanks on those assistants (the realistic ones). Fleck isn't coming as a coordinator and neither is Robb Smith. why would we want to keep Floods leftovers. Paganos maybe. Campanile maybe. No to the rest please

 

[RUforJERSEY]

Some real diversity on that staff.

 

[rutgers4life11]

Putting way way WAY too much stock in the abilities of a lot of those kids. My Lord does the OP realize exactly how BAD we were this season and that it wasn't just about coaching? 3 YEARS OF LOUSY RECRUITING MY FRIEND.

Hahahaha.

Yeah, 5 star recruit Darius Hamilton is bad?
Steve Longa one of the leading tacklers in the nation is bad?
Hayden Rettig apparently wasn't a 4 star LSU recruit?
Hicks and Martin who had awesome averages, but I guess they're awful?
Grant's apparently not one of the most dynamic players in the B1G?
I guess Quanzell Lambert, Chris Muller and JJ Denman weren't 4 star recruits?

Sorry, the no talent argument goes out the door. It was coaching.

Now, I certainly agree that the talent has gotten worse with 3 bad recruiting classes, but my ENTIRE POINT was that next year we'll have a very experienced team that were pretty much all highly touted recruits.

As we all saw with Michigan, who had a heck of a lot of good players but weren't utilized correctly.... coaching makes ALL the difference.

 

[rutgers4life11]

No thanks on those assistants (the realistic ones). Fleck isn't coming as a coordinator and neither is Robb Smith. why would we want to keep Floods leftovers. Paganos maybe. Campanile maybe. No to the rest please

You underestimate how loyal people are to Schiano. This is the guy that got most of these coaches their career, and brought them to the NFL. This was more of a fun exercise, but I have little doubt Schiano couldn't put together a great staff with all the people he's been around over the years. I also doubt Fleck, but he's been mentioned elsewhere so I threw it on there. There's a lot of guys within the Schiano coaching tree that would be good.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Hahahaha.

Yeah, 5 star recruit Darius Hamilton is bad?
Steve Longa one of the leading tacklers in the nation is bad?
Hayden Rettig apparently wasn't a 4 star LSU recruit?
Hicks and Martin who had awesome averages, but I guess they're awful?
Grant's apparently not one of the most dynamic players in the B1G?
I guess Quanzell Lambert, Chris Muller and JJ Denman weren't 4 star recruits?

Sorry, the no talent argument goes out the door. It was coaching.

Now, I certainly agree that the talent has gotten worse with 3 bad recruiting classes, but my ENTIRE POINT was that next year we'll have a very experienced team that were pretty much all highly touted recruits.

As we all saw with Michigan, who had a heck of a lot of good players but weren't utilized correctly.... coaching makes ALL the difference.

Listen, I thought Flood was the worst coach on Earth, but what you're forgetting is VERY important:

- 1st string talent doesn't mean SHIT if you have absolutely nothing behind it. We are incredibly weak (see: no QUALITY depth) as a slew of position groups. QB, WR, TE, OL, LB, DB, P, K...essentially all groups other than DL and RB and, bottom line, it showed this year in a big way. So while, yes, we have some very good players, well, it's just not nearly as much as you think it is. Not even close, actually, when you really look at things. Sorry.

Michigan State lost a ton of talent from last year's team, then got hit with the injury bug as bad we did, losing starters left-and-right on both sides, but they got BETTER as the season went along.

 

[rutgers4life11]

Listen, I thought Flood was the worst coach on Earth, but what you're forgetting is VERY important:

- 1st string talent doesn't mean SHIT if you have absolutely nothing behind it. We are incredibly weak (see: no QUALITY depth) as a slew of position groups. QB, WR, TE, OL, LB, DB, P, K...essentially all groups other than DL and RB and, bottom line, it showed this year in a big way. So while, yes, we have some very good players, well, it's just not nearly as much as you think it is. Not even close, actually, when you really look at things. Sorry.

Michigan State lost a ton of talent from last year's team, then got hit with the injury bug as bad we did, losing starters left-and-right on both sides, but they got BETTER as the season went along.

Oh, I 100% agree with you there. It was certainly exploited, and depth is everything. But my point again is that 1 deep are your starters and your main core... and it's not that bad for a 4-8 team. I assure you many coaches would be happy to inherit a team like this in their first year, that was just severely undercoached... because it's going to make him look better over night.

I just think with this 1 deep, and a coach hopefully flipping some recruits, and nabbing some good Jucos, and most importantly, maximizing the talent we do have... we'd actually have a better squad than you would think.

At times, our guys didn't even know how to tackle. Our angles were atrocious. Our schemes worked against our personnel. That's all coaching. Now, do I think we're loaded with talent? Hell no. But I do think the next coach will be getting some damn good players, and it wouldn't be crazy to dream of a 8-5, 9-4 season.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

Oh, I 100% agree with you there. It was certainly exploited, and depth is everything. But my point again is that 1 deep are your starters and your main core... and it's not that bad for a 4-8 team. I assure you many coaches would be happy to inherit a team like this in their first year, that was just severely undercoached... because it's going to make him look better over night.

I just think with this 1 deep, and a coach bringing flipping some recruits, and nabbing some good Jucos, and most importantly, maximizing the talent we do have... we'd actually have a better squad than you would think.

At times, our guys didn't even know how to tackle. Our angles were atrocious. Our schemes worked against our personnel. Do I think we're loaded with talent? Hell no. But I do think the next coach will be getting some players, and it wouldn't be crazy to dream of a 8-5, 9-4 season.

Very, very tough schedule next year, even New Mexico has completely turned things around.

 

[NorthNJRUFan]

I love the idea that Fleck is going to walk away from a multi-million dollar offer to stay on as WMU HC to take an OC position here.

You should have stopped typing at that point bc thats where i wanted to stop reading. but unfortunately I kept going. I then read that Mike Teel should be the QB coach and I stopped.

 

[rutgers4life11]

Very, very tough schedule next year, even New Mexico has completely turned things around.

Very true. Definitely a 'dream', but hey, I think michigan would have said the same thing. 7-5 would be nice.

 

[rutgers4life11]

I love the idea that Fleck is going to walk away from a multi-million dollar offer to stay on as WMU HC to take an OC position here.

You should have stopped typing at that point bc thats where i wanted to stop reading. but unfortunately I kept going. I then read that Mike Teel should be the QB coach and I stopped.

Obviously reading comprehension is difficult, but I wrote above that other people have mentioned it, so I threw it in here. There were 4 names listed. Geez.

I guess it's as crazy as a head coach at FIU leaving his job to be an offensive lineman coach at Alabama. Oh wait.

Personally, I think it's nuts, but like I said, I listed it because others did. The fact of the matter is it could be very possible that there actually would be a pay increase in the move. Fleck only made $392k/yr last year. I guess he just got extended though.