There's a GIGANTIC difference- Schiano was a successful D1A HC before (at Rutgers to boot) and became an NFL HC based off that success; Ash came in talking about a championship culture, us not being up to B1G standards, got a decent amount of financial support and then proceeded to have us recruit like a NJAC program while getting CLOBBERED by 3-9 teams like Kansas 3 seasons in.
Schiano built up a decent amount of collateral; Ash did not.
Joe P.
I have a lot of opinion and feelings on this entire subject and can also say that I have swayed a bit on my thoughts over the past year or so.
And it is something I would also have no qualms sharing with the man himself and this is pretty much the same thing as he knows who I am on this board anyway and I have had communication with him since the hire.
My thoughts is the Greg did something that was almost impossible to do and may have been the one man that would stick with it, bull his way through it and make it work. At the time of him moving to the NFL. I thought good for him and great timing for us. I had thought he built the brand but may have hit his ceiling here. My personal opinion was that he had many flaws, one of them, not delegating enough and always had to be the smartest man in the room. That worked well in building the impossible here but did not work well to get to the next level. I never thought he would be successful in the NFL and knew players at Tampa that just hated it from day one. He was not successful but not anywhere near Kotite or the moron the Giants have had.
Fast forward- we all know what happened here. And for the first many years and even after Flood was gone, I always felt our next coach would be someone else and someone that had been to or near the top before.
After Ash's 2nd year and he had obviously burnt everything down and was a horrible HC as well. We find ourselves as the worst P5 program in the land. The freaking worst. I no longer felt a top HC or even a good one would take this job and started to lean toward a reunion with Schiano. As he has done it HERE before. At least get us to respectability. And then we can start dreaming again.
So, here we are with GS...I am all aboard. I am hoping he has grown and learned.That even includes recruiting as I always felt that while he may have been the best we have had here, it did not rival the top 30+ HC's out there.
Well, here he is and I see he has grown, he has recognized his weaknesses. I have personally seen the growth that he was forthright enough to take the time to share directly. Just that alone, I see he will be different and even better. He does carry NJ weight and I feel the difference around the state as we talk College football again. Rutgers Hats are again worn with hope and pride.
HS players and coaches may still flock to the blue bloods but they are starting to watch and listen. We need to see some wins now and if we do, we will see things turn very quickly. IF we get to be respectable over the next 2 years, mark my words that we will be top 20-25 in recruiting in Greg's 3rd recruiting cycle.