Rutgers University, and the state of New Jersey as a whole, still holds a special place in Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano’s heart.
Schiano grew up in Wyckoff, N.J., and most of his extended family still lives in the state. His children spent much of their childhood in Piscataway, N.J., where he was the head football coach at Rutgers from 2001 to 2011.
This weekend could bring back memories for Schiano, as Ohio State travels to Piscataway to play Rutgers on Saturday – the first time Ohio State’s second-year defensive coordinator will coach against the Scarlet Knights since he left Rutgers in January 2012 to become the head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Schiano, however, isn’t one to get sentimental. While he still thinks highly of Rutgers, the state he grew up in and the time he spent there, Schiano says his focus this week is singular: helping his current team win a football game as it begins a stretch of eight straight Big Ten games for the remainder of the regular season.
"It’ll be weird, but life’s weird, right?" Schiano said of returning to Rutgers. "It’s all eyes forward. We have eight straight league games now, starting with Rutgers, so you got to win."
Schiano isn’t the only member of Ohio State’s football team making a return trip to his home state this week. Starting safety Jordan Fuller, a native of Norwood, N.J., says he and Schiano – who is also the Buckeyes’ safeties coach – often talk about the state where they grew up, which has strengthened their bond with one another.
"We always talk about Jersey all the time, so it’s really cool," Fuller said. "I love my relationship with Coach."
Schiano also isn’t the first Ohio State coordinator to face one of his former schools this year. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson faced schools he formerly coached in each of Ohio State’s first two games against Indiana and against Oklahoma. Schiano says he hasn’t spent any time speaking with Wilson, however, about what it’s like to coach against a former school as he prepares for Saturday’s game.
"We don’t have time to even think of that," Schiano said.
“It’s all eyes forward. We have eight straight league games now, starting with Rutgers, so you got to win.”– Greg Schiano
Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to winning seasons in six of his final seven years at Rutgers, making his tenure one of the most successful runs for the football program in school history. A program that had gone eight years without a winning season upon his arrival, Rutgers has slid back into college football’s basement since his departure, with a record of just 7-21 since the start of the 2015 season.
Because of his history at Rutgers and his personal ties to the state, Schiano says he wants to see the Scarlet Knights, who are now coached by former Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash, climb their way back up the ladder and be successful.
He just doesn’t want that climb to start on Saturday.
"It was a dream of mine to make college football in New Jersey like it is in so many other great states. And we happen to be blessed to be in the best of all the best, Ohio State is it. But because my whole family still lives there, and now I have a personal relationship with the head coach there, I certainly want them to succeed," Schiano said. "I think Chris is going to get it where it needs to be, and I want that to happen. Just not this weekend."
