Greg Schiano credits Ohio State, Urban Meyer for making him 'better head coach' at Rutgers

Greg Schiano is ready for Year 4 in his second stint at Rutgers, but it was his time at Ohio State that molded him into a new version of the Scarlet Knights head coach.

Schiano took Rutgers to new heights during his first stint while in the Big East. Once he left for a quick NFL stint, Schiano returned to college at Ohio State as the defensive coordinator under Urban Meyer.

Those days in Columbus reshaped how Schiano approached the head coaching and recruiting roles when he returned to Rutgers in 2020.

“It was super,” Schiano said of his time at Ohio State, via Next Up with Adam Breneman. “It was really good for me to go back and be an assistant coach after being a head coach for so many years … And it really forced me to (say) is what I believed really true? Or did I forget what it really is like? And the answer was yes or no. So a lot of it is true. And some of it, I really forgot what it was like. And there were things that, you know, Urban did a great job at Ohio State. Obviously, look at the record. There’s certain things that he did that I didn’t agree with. But as I talked to our staff about, it’s all about vertical alignment.”

Schiano mentioned how he learned a new perspective at Ohio State under Meyer and it reminded him of past experiences prior to his head coaching life.

“And Coach (Joe) Paterno used to say all the time, we’d argue things out in the staff meeting room, but at the end he said okay, this is it, and I took from him is now you have to go coach it or administer it like it’s your idea,” Schiano said. “But it’s like, because these guys, these players, they sniff that out right away if you don’t believe it. Players are smart and they play football. We’re coaching, they’re playing, they know when we’re passionate about an idea or when we’re just doing it because our higher-ups told us to … 

“Some guys are lifelong assistants, and they can handle it. Other guys get to a point in their career where they can’t. That was great for me. Because then coming back to be a head coach, I can think and say you know what, I remember how this made me feel.”

Rutgers currently has the No. 44 overall recruiting class in the 2024 cycle, per the On3 Industry Ranking. It was No. 60 in 2023, so there’s already improvement after the latest cycle for Rutgers.

“Because of those experiences, because of the tough times I had in Tampa, because of the Ohio State experience, I learned a lot about recruiting from Urban,” Schiano said. “Urban was one of the elite, if not the elite recruiter in the country. So yeah, they’re all good experiences. And again, to end up back here, the situation and the circumstances that made that possible, I consider it a blessing.”

Schiano is 80-89 overall at Rutgers from 2001-11 and 2020-22. He led Rutgers to the Gator Bowl in 2021 and the team was as high as No. 7 overall in the country back in 2006.

But it’s still a long climb to the top. But if Schiano can take more Ohio State lessons with him, Rutgers might steadily climb up to highly competitive football.