With Cristobal out of the picture, Pernetti quickly turned to Flood, who is expected to provide stability after Schianos exit left the school scrambling for a replacement less than a week before national signing day, which is technical school tampa ESPN New YorkWednesday.
technical school tampa ESPN New York,The 41-year-old Flood, who was promoted to interim coach after Greg Schiano departed last week to become theTampa Bay Buccaneershead coach, interviewed for the job over the weekend.
Rutgers assistant Kyle Flood has been hired as the teams coach, getting his first chance to run a major college program.
With Flood taking over, the chances are good Rutgers can hold on to many of its top recruits.
Flood worked for three seasons at Delaware as offensive line coach and was part of a team that won an FCS national championship in 2003 before coming to Rutgers.
This search was quick. Very targeted, very precise. We knew what we were looking for, Pernetti said. This is not the same job as it was 10 years ago. Weve built something really special here.
This will be the best recruiting class we have ever had, Cristobal said in an email to The Associated Press on Monday night.
This has really been humbling, going through this process, Flood said. The core values of Rutgers football dont come and go with any one person. Thats how our players live their lives, and thats what were about here at Rutgers.
We have built a great program, Cristobal said. It is a great time to be a Panther.
Before Schianos departure, Rutgers was working on a highly rated recruiting class. Flood and the rest of the staff, along with Pernetti, worked frantically through the weekend to hold on to the players who had verbally committed to Rutgers.
The hiring of Flood came after Florida International coach Mario Cristobal decided not to join Rutgers after receiving a contract offer on Monday.
Its an honor to be the coach here.
Flood, was emotional on the podium at his formal introduction on Tuesday. He even started to break up when he thanked his wife and children.
He went to high school in New York, played football at Iona College in New Rochelle, just north of the city, and began his college coaching career at Long Island Universitechnical school tampaty-C.W. Post in 1995.
Rutgers finished 9-4 last season and 4-3 in the Big East. The Scarlet Knights will return most of the key players from that team.
During Schianos time at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights have gone from a major college football laughingstock to consistent winners in the Big East. Floods first season with Rutgers was the programs first winning season since 1992. The Scarlet Knights have had only one losing season since 2005, going 5-1 in bowl games during the past seven years.
Joe Schad is a college football reporter for ESPN. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Schiano surprised Rutgers when he took the Tampa Bay job. He had previously turned down Miami and Michigan to stay at the school, where he served as coach for 11 years.
Cristobal, a former Rutgers assistant who has been with FIU for five seasons, appeared to be Rutgers first choice, but he decided to stay in Miami. An FIU player said that at a team meeting on Monday, Cristobal told players, I love FIU and this is where I want to be.
He received a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $750,000 that will increase by $100,000 with each new year.
