Sargeant doesnt see Hobbs and Schiano working together

[ru-baby]

listened to the podcast and pretty striking to hear a few things:

- Sarge indicating he wouldnt bet on Hobbs and GS working together. In essence didnt see it happening.

He seems to be around the program a lot and has more actual interactions than those here. Thus, him saying he Can’t see Hobbs and Gs working together speaks volumes about Hobbs to me. Why should this even be an issue? Shouldn’t be who is the best person for the program not the best person for the AD

-The administration being taken with Nunzio and that he will absolutely be given every opportunity to get the job by getting a few wins.

This would be in keeping with the scuttlebutt about Hobbs that he wants someone who he can control and wants to be given credit for finding a non-obvious choice. I think Nunzio has done a very good job so far in portraying stability to the extent you can and has been good ambassador and I would give him a long look for the off coordinator. That being said at this pt in History a first time head coach has never been a coordinator and has recently out of high school is not what is needed.

- all the talk about different candidates you can do some of what “greg used to be able to do “

It’s somewhat funny to hear all the descriptions of candidates in light of them being able to do a subset of what Greg used to be able to do. While Politti is on record indicating that it makes sense at this point in time for GS and that the arguments against him such as not beating West Virginia are out right silly, the tenor of the podcast is that there is no movement towards GS at this time and that it will take the former players, alums or a big donors to rally Hobbs towards that. It seems he’s looking for any way but GS. And if Greg’s interest is waning it doesn’t appear that Hobbs is in anyway trying to convince or recruit him but would be very satisfied in telling the faithful that Greg wasn’t interested

 

[bac2therac]

Nunzio should not be a serious candidate, if so.....

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I can’t remember the last time Sarge was right about a anything before the fact, .

 

[RUChoppin]

Nunzio should not be a serious candidate, if so.....

Nunzio shouldn't be a serious candidate right now. I think the remaining 7 games are his audition either for the OC job next year or for an OC or HC job at a G5 school if he's not retained.

If he could magically pull 3-4 wins out of his hat over the rest of the schedule without Blackshear, Sitkowski, or Carter, though, I'd definitely be impressed.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

BTW - if Nunzio beat Maryland, and found 3 more wins, he would deserve a shot ...HOWEVER...

 

[JayRU09]

BTW - if Nunzio beat Maryland, and found 3 more wins, he would deserve a shot ...HOWEVER...

All that Sarge said was that people in the AD are impressed with him and that if he can win maybe 3 or 4 games he would have a shot at the job. Which is pretty par for the course for interims.

But since we have this 'Hobbs must go' narrative around this fan base, things are getting crazy.

 

[zappaa]

I’ve heard from multiple sources Hobbs doesn’t really want Greg.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

All that Sarge said was that people in the AD are impressed with him and that if he can win maybe 3 or 4 games he would have a shot at the job. Which is pretty par for the course for interims.

But since we have this 'Hobbs must go' narrative around this fan base, things are getting crazy.

Fair enough.

 

[ru-baby]

Zap- that’s disheartening to hear.

Mainly for the reason that it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with whether ‘Greg would create a larger fan base, run a clean program, improve the wins and losses etc. it all appears from the outside to be personality and power driven -shame if so

 

[RutgersSam]

Please please no Nunzio. Are we idiots? He may have cache, be a nice guy and have "Jerseyness" about him, but he would be way, way out of his league. He'd essentially be Flood 2.0.

I really think that the majority of our fanbase and most of decision makers for Rutgers athletics have no idea what it takes to build and sustain a college football team.

 

[Scarlet4ever]

All that Sarge said was that people in the AD are impressed with him and that if he can win maybe 3 or 4 games he would have a shot at the job.

Well since that is pretty much an impossibility we don't have to really contemplate that too much.

 

[cohwx]

Sounds like we should be getting ready to be disappointed. Ash Part 2.

I will say though that if Schiano's interest is waning, then we probably shouldn't hire him. He needs to have that same sense of urgency he had when he first got here. Without that he's probably no better than any other candidate.

 

[ruman]

I’m glad the main purpose of Rutgers football is to provide the athletic dept with a stress free work environment. Bravo

 

[yesrutgers01]

Nothing against Nunzio but if that ends up as the hire- Hobbs should be led to the door immediately. We keep hearing from Hobbs himself that $$$ will not get in the way. You do not hire or even consider a HS Coach with very limited College experience at this level.
May as well try to get PArtridge if that is what we are looking to do.

And I can see Hobbs/Greg clashing. In some ways, that can work but only if there is also some respect in there(love/hate) but my gut tells me Greg would come in with very little respect for Hobbs as his boss.

 

[ScarletCrimson]

Hobbs better swallow his pride.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I’ve had enough of Hobbs being “taken with” candidates. How’d that work out with the Ash interview he was so “taken with”? So now he’ll be “taken with” a HS coach with almost no college experience? Here’s hoping none of this is true.

 

[SkilletHead2]

Good lord, this is fun!

 

[50 yd line RR]

I like Nunzio but not as the head coach.
Nunzio would be Rutgers version of Notre Dames Gerry Faust.

 

[RUbacker]

I’ve heard from multiple sources Hobbs doesn’t really want Greg.

I can’t help but to think back to a conversation I had with Hobbs last year . You can see Ash should be on his way out and I asked Hobbs about Schiano. The way he responded told me he was not a fan of GS and I knew then he would not make a change with Ash last year.

 

[bossnj1]

Nunzio shouldn't be a serious candidate right now. I think the remaining 7 games are his audition either for the OC job next year or for an OC or HC job at a G5 school if he's not retained.

If he could magically pull 3-4 wins out of his hat over the rest of the schedule without Blackshear, Sitkowski, or Carter, though, I'd definitely be impressed.

No chance of that with Langan at QB.

 

[krup]

I have strongly felt that, despite all of the calls to hand Schiano the job, an effective search should be done to examine all possible candidates and if he was hired after that due diligence I would be fine with it.

Hobbs refusing to even consider Schiano as part of his search, would be just as stupid as handling him the job without a search.

 

[krup]

I’ve had enough of Hobbs being “taken with” candidates. How’d that work out with the Ash interview he was so “taken with”? So now he’ll be “taken with” a HS coach with almost no college experience? Here’s hoping none of this is true.

Be careful. You don't want to incur the wrath of the 'he's such a great fundraiser" crowd.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

People should actually hear the podcast themselves before forming an opinion.
There are other HC that are better choices than Schiano. So who cares even if true?
If you are one of the Schiano Cult that thinks Rutgers shouldn't hire anyone but Schiano, any hint that this will not happen will trigger the holy piss out of you.

 

[Upstream]

Zap- that’s disheartening to hear.

Mainly for the reason that it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with whether ‘Greg would create a larger fan base, run a clean program, improve the wins and losses etc. it all appears from the outside to be personality and power driven -shame if so

If it is true that Hobbs doesn't really want Greg, it is a huge leap to assume that the reason is personality and power driven.

Maybe the reasons that Hobbs doesn't really want Greg are similar to the reasons Upstream doesn't really want Greg. As I have posted multiple times, I don't have confidence that Schiano could replicate the success he had when he came here in 2001:

It isn't 20 years ago any more, and if he came back to Rutgers, Schiano would be 20 years older, with 20 more years of successes and failures which impact him and how he would be perceived by recruits and coaches.

Part of Schiano's success 20 years ago was to sell a vision of what Rutgers could become. He can't sell that same 20-year-old vision again, because he already has shown that while he succeeded at part of that vision, he failed at other parts. Plus he jumped ship after hitting a plateau. While he could certainly sell a new realistic vision of hitting a plateau far better than what we had under Ash, that is not as inspirational as the vision he relied on 20 years ago.

Part of Schiano's success 20 years ago was to drive Rutgers to make the transition from Grunninger-era D1AA-type infrastructure to a D1A-type infrastructure. That is no longer a job he needs to do. As Hobbs indicated in his press conference last week, Rutgers may have to continue to close the gap with top B1G programs, but the big pieces of our infrastructure are in place. Schiano doesn't need to get the AD to put that in place.

It is not 20 years ago, and thing have changed. Rutgers has changed. Schiano has changed.

It is possible that Schiano could come back and replicate the success he had 20 years ago. It is even possible that he could come back and surpass the success he had previously. But it is also possible that he could come back and fall short or fail. And that is a huge risk and a very realistic risk.

And if Schiano comes back and fails, then what is the next step. Are we stuck with a coach who failed as a retread, with a long contract, huge buyout, and now the reputation that no one can succeed at Rutgers, not even the guy who caught lightning in a bottle 20 years ago.

I believe there are much better options. I believe that there are other coaches who have shown the ability to win elsewhere, who can bring new vibrancy and vision to Rutgers, and have new success here, without all the risk that a Schiano retread would bring. And if none of those coaches are out there, then we can fall back to rehiring Schiano. But he should be one of our last choices, not the first choice.

​

So if Hobbs has similar reasons for not wanting to bring Greg back, none of that has to do with Hobbs' ego or personality. It doesn't even have much to do with Schiano's ego. It has to do with believing that Schiano may not be the best choice and that Rutgers can do better.

 

[King of S]

I’ve heard from multiple sources Hobbs doesn’t really want Greg.

Which is understandable.

 

[newell138]

While I would love to see Greg back, I'm also open to other options. Hobbs has done a great job in hiring coaches for other sports so far (still waiting to see how Mens and Womens track works out though) but for some reason I'm not feeling too good about who we end up with. Im afraid it will just be more Rutgers being Rutgers.

 

[bitnez]

When Hobbs made the strong move of firing Ash and McN and he didn’t move swiftly to name a new HC in someone who is immediately available (Schiano, Jones, etc) it became clear to me that group of candidates was not on his radar. He wants to wait to interview current coaches. That’s fine, but if that was his plan all along (and I now think he didn’t have a plan) firing Ash was nothing more than a play by Hobbs to protect his job.

So, I have two thoughts:

1. While I could be pleasantly surprised I think that we’re going to end up with a very blah choice.

2. Hobbs won’t last more than 1-2 years with the new President.

 

[jonS]

Unless Rutgers beats Penn State , Ohio State , and Michigan State , Nunzio will not get the job. Won't happen. That being said , I'm very impressed with him and how he's demonstrated strong leadership in a very difficult situation. He should be offered some other role at Rutgers because we can't afford to lose a quality person like him..

 

[Knight Shift]

listened to the podcast and pretty striking to hear a few things:

- Sarge indicating he wouldnt bet on Hobbs and GS working together. In essence didnt see it happening.

He seems to be around the program a lot and has more actual interactions than those here. Thus, him saying he Can’t see Hobbs and Gs working together speaks volumes about Hobbs to me. Why should this even be an issue? Shouldn’t be who is the best person for the program not the best person for the AD

-The administration being taken with Nunzio and that he will absolutely be given every opportunity to get the job by getting a few wins.

This would be in keeping with the scuttlebutt about Hobbs that he wants someone who he can control and wants to be given credit for finding a non-obvious choice. I think Nunzio has done a very good job so far in portraying stability to the extent you can and has been good ambassador and I would give him a long look for the off coordinator. That being said at this pt in History a first time head coach has never been a coordinator and has recently out of high school is not what is needed.

- all the talk about different candidates you can do some of what “greg used to be able to do “

It’s somewhat funny to hear all the descriptions of candidates in light of them being able to do a subset of what Greg used to be able to do. While Politti is on record indicating that it makes sense at this point in time for GS and that the arguments against him such as not beating West Virginia are out right silly, the tenor of the podcast is that there is no movement towards GS at this time and that it will take the former players, alums or a big donors to rally Hobbs towards that. It seems he’s looking for any way but GS. And if Greg’s interest is waning it doesn’t appear that Hobbs is in anyway trying to convince or recruit him but would be very satisfied in telling the faithful that Greg wasn’t interested

You need to stop it with your narrative and rumor mongering about Hobbs and the search. You are really reaching with your anti-Hobbs narrative as one of the leaders of Cult of Greg. You have made multiple posts in the same vein.

I listened very closely to the segment of the podcast you are referring to, and I came away with a completely different message, namely that none of those 3 knuckleheads from NJ.com have a clue as to what is going on. Sarge stammered around the question and did not reach a conclusion either way.

And there is absolutely nothing in that podcast that indicates "The administration being taken with Nunzio and that he will absolutely be given every opportunity to get the job by getting a few wins" Nothing, zero, zilch, nada.

At 15:30 Sarge said: "But again, we are only in week 2 in this. I will lead off with this. Nunzio Campanile does have a chance to retain the job. He will probably have to win 3 or 4 games. Uhhh, it is doable, but so far, people are impressed with what Nunzio has been doing. They think that he represents the program well. They obviously know he can recruit. Uhhh, he does have a chance, and I wouldn't count him out. But again, we are only in week two of this, and we're really not going to know until November, umm, maybe even late November how this even will all pan out."

Nowhere did he say anything about the administration.

Here is what was said verbatim, starting around 26:30:

Politi: "You think anything has moved since we talked last, or just because the search hasn't begun, they are still in a holding pattern."

Sarge: "Umm, aaah, I don't think so. I think Pat Hobbs, um, um, my understanding is that Greg will be in it until the end, umm, and I think that Pat Hobbs by all indications is going to try to get as many names as possible and gauge as much interest knowing that Greg could be out there at the end. Ummm, people will have different opinions on it. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you mentioned in your (Politi's) column, I've heard other, you know, valid reporting that they don't want to work for each other. Ummmmmmmm, I thinkkkhh . . . .it's going to be . . . ask me in November whether or not this is going to get done. Early . . . by all indications. . . . we are in the first week of October, umm, it doesn't look good. If I am a betting man, I wouldn't bet on Pat Hobbs and Greg Schiano working together. But, uhhhh, you know, things have a habit of you know, uhh, there are other forces involved and . . . you know, nothing would surprise me at this point, but at this point, ummmmmmmm, it's a long way from happening."

Politi: "Other forces including people who write the seven figure checks. . . that's, those are the other forces (giggle), yep, it's going to be fascinating to see if there is going to be movement there because no matter what, who he comes up with other than that name, it's going to be, that name is going to be there until the end."


------------
Again, they basically said multiple times that it is too early to tell what is going on, and that Schiano is going to be in it until the end.

Many here assailed Hobbs and previous ADs for rushing the hiring process when Flood was hired and when Ash was hired. We are in week two. Wouldn't it make sense considered the last two hires that Hobbs takes his time, consider a range of candidates, and then make a decision after a range of candidates has been considered? Do you really think Hobbs should simply skip the process, not consider any other names and have hired Schiano by now? That's ludicrous.

 

[RU in IM]

BTW - if Nunzio beat Maryland, and found 3 more wins, he would deserve a shot ...HOWEVER...

if this is the case, I won’t be surprised at all that Hobbs goes down in flames with the program. I’m guessing he barely followed the program when Greg built the program from the ashes.

** sorry Nuts, I replied to the wrong comment **

 

[Knight Shift]

People should actually hear the podcast themselves before forming an opinion.
There are other HC that are better choices than Schiano. So who cares even if true?
If you are one of the Schiano Cult that thinks Rutgers shouldn't hire anyone but Schiano, any hint that this will not happen will trigger the holy piss out of you.

Why? The narratives and the thoughts from the Cult of Greg hold more weight than actual facts.

 

[Upstream]

Unless Rutgers beats Penn State , Ohio State , and Michigan State , Nunzio will not get the job. Won't happen. That being said , I'm very impressed with him and how he's demonstrated strong leadership in a very difficult situation. He should be offered some other role at Rutgers because we can't afford to lose a quality person like him..

quite honestly, if Nunzio beats PSU, OSU, and MSU, with this ragamuffin team, he should get the job.

 

[Knight Shift]

Unless Rutgers beats Penn State , Ohio State , and Michigan State , Nunzio will not get the job. Won't happen. That being said , I'm very impressed with him and how he's demonstrated strong leadership in a very difficult situation. He should be offered some other role at Rutgers because we can't afford to lose a quality person like him..

You must be part of the "administration" that the OP was talking about.

 

[RU4Real]

If it is true that Hobbs doesn't really want Greg, it is a huge leap to assume that the reason is personality and power driven.

Maybe the reasons that Hobbs doesn't really want Greg are similar to the reasons Upstream doesn't really want Greg. As I have posted multiple times, I don't have confidence that Schiano could replicate the success he had when he came here in 2001:

It isn't 20 years ago any more, and if he came back to Rutgers, Schiano would be 20 years older, with 20 more years of successes and failures which impact him and how he would be perceived by recruits and coaches.

Part of Schiano's success 20 years ago was to sell a vision of what Rutgers could become. He can't sell that same 20-year-old vision again, because he already has shown that while he succeeded at part of that vision, he failed at other parts. Plus he jumped ship after hitting a plateau. While he could certainly sell a new realistic vision of hitting a plateau far better than what we had under Ash, that is not as inspirational as the vision he relied on 20 years ago.

Part of Schiano's success 20 years ago was to drive Rutgers to make the transition from Grunninger-era D1AA-type infrastructure to a D1A-type infrastructure. That is no longer a job he needs to do. As Hobbs indicated in his press conference last week, Rutgers may have to continue to close the gap with top B1G programs, but the big pieces of our infrastructure are in place. Schiano doesn't need to get the AD to put that in place.

It is not 20 years ago, and thing have changed. Rutgers has changed. Schiano has changed.

It is possible that Schiano could come back and replicate the success he had 20 years ago. It is even possible that he could come back and surpass the success he had previously. But it is also possible that he could come back and fall short or fail. And that is a huge risk and a very realistic risk.

And if Schiano comes back and fails, then what is the next step. Are we stuck with a coach who failed as a retread, with a long contract, huge buyout, and now the reputation that no one can succeed at Rutgers, not even the guy who caught lightning in a bottle 20 years ago.

I believe there are much better options. I believe that there are other coaches who have shown the ability to win elsewhere, who can bring new vibrancy and vision to Rutgers, and have new success here, without all the risk that a Schiano retread would bring. And if none of those coaches are out there, then we can fall back to rehiring Schiano. But he should be one of our last choices, not the first choice.

​

So if Hobbs has similar reasons for not wanting to bring Greg back, none of that has to do with Hobbs' ego or personality. It doesn't even have much to do with Schiano's ego. It has to do with believing that Schiano may not be the best choice and that Rutgers can do better.

Yep.

We should hang out.

 

[vkj91]

You guys are all really getting a bit insane here. If you read this site, the papers, the other site, or talk to “boosters” you hear a different story/name from each of them. Think we have to just reside with the fact, nobody knows who the candidates are or what Hobbs is thinking

 

[MGSA99]

I'd be careful with all the Nunzio praise. Let's face it, Chris Ash was so bad that a turd sandwich looks better. What we may be doing here is having a honeymoon period with Nunzio simply because he's NOT Ash, and we are all hungry for any sign of life, even while still losing by 41 points.

 

[JRZEER]

Sounds like we should be getting ready to be disappointed. Ash Part 2.

I will say though that if Schiano's interest is waning, then we probably shouldn't hire him. He needs to have that same sense of urgency he had when he first got here. Without that he's probably no better than any other candidate.

At 53 years old, does he really have the energy and desire for a complete rebuild?

 

[IMARUFAN]

They don't have to "work together", unless Hobbs has hopes of being named defensive coordinator or something.

Hobbs just needs to turn the keys over to Schiano, sit back, and watch recruiting improve, discipline improve, team energy improve and on field performance improve.

 

[zappaa]

At 53 years old, does he really have the energy and desire for a complete rebuild?

You consider 53 old?
The older you get before you’re actually elderly, you only get more-so!!!

He’d probably have more energy and enthusiasm and be more tyrannical

 

[Knightmoves]

I'd be careful with all the Nunzio praise. Let's face it, Chris Ash was so bad that a turd sandwich looks better. What we may be doing here is having a honeymoon period with Nunzio simply because he's NOT Ash, and we are all hungry for any sign of life, even while still losing by 41 points.

Agree. Nunzio has done a great job? Our 2 top offensive players are bailing on him. Maryland beat us like a drum 48-7 and another butt kicking at Indiana seems very likely.

Because people liked him in a couple of pressers that means he’s doing a great job?

winning matters. That’s a very tall order with this group.