The Time of the Flood!

The time of the Flood, Kyle Flood, is the dawning of a new era for Rutgers football. As such, it seemed appropriate for it to be the dawn of a new day for this blog. First off, congratulations to Coach Flood on being named head coach of the oldest program in BCS football after 19 long, hard years as an RU assistant.

When Greg Schiano shocked the Rutgers faithful and left for Tampa Bay, at first it seemed to me to be almost a panic measure for AD Tim Pernetti to install Flood as the interim head coach rather than simply leaving the position vacant until naming a permanent replacement. But it made sense to me from the perspective of him already being the Assistant Head Coach, who else would you name, especially at such a delicate time in the recruiting process. As the days went on, more and more current and former Rutgers players, prospective recruits, and local big-name high school coaches essentially vouched for Kyle Flood. It's like the old Elvis album title 100,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong. Dozens and dozens of well-known football people can't be wrong about the quality of this man and his readiness for a head coaching position.

The results will come in during National Signing Day tomorrow, but the early returns are that Coach Flood and the rest of the Rutgers staff, AD Pernetti included, have managed to essentially keep the recruiting class together. As of this posting, only 1 recruit had defected and the news came in a few hours ago that 5-star recruit Darius Hamilton had chosen RU. Those early results make it appear that Coach Flood was the best possible hire.

One thing that will play out over the next few days is how much of the Rutgers coaching staff will stay in place. I read a blog post on ESPN.com earlier today stating that the Tampa Bay Bucs were denied their request to the Cardinals to speak with former Rutgers offensive coordinator John McNulty about that coaching position. The post suggested that Frank Cignetti could be the next to interview for the position. Personally, I'm hoping that Coach Cignetti stays on the banks to continue to revitalize the Rutgers offense. I am encouraged by this article by Tom Luicci at NJ.com mentioning that the overall budget for assistant coaches salaries has been increased. This leads me to believe they can retain many of the current assistants and bring in another to fill the defensive coordinator slot or another position if Flood promotes someone from within.

Congratulations Coach Floyd--Upstream Red Team!