Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano: Pinstripe Bowl memories of the past center on Eric LeGrand
The last game of Greg Schiano’s first tenure with Rutgers football was in the Pinstripe Bowl. Weeks later, Schiano was hired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That game, a rather emphatic 27-13 win over Iowa State, drew a close to Schiano’s first rebuild of the program. It was a fitting end to that term, with Schiano beating a Power Five program in a bowl game.
That it took place at the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, a location that is essentially in the backyard of Rutgers, also made it fitting. Now, Rutgers marks its return to bowl eligibility with a Pinstripe Bowl game against Miami.
“First off, I remember it being a great experience for, like I said, everyone involved in the program, players, coaches, families. The Yankees just do an incredible job,” Schiano said last week about the Pinstripe Bowl.
“I remember we had a really challenging opponent in Iowa State. It was a great game. I remember the end of it when we were awarded the trophy, and Eric LeGrand had just been injured the year before. Being able to recognize him. He was sitting up in the box, being able to recognize him, (and) acknowledge him – that meant a lot to me. Obviously, having no idea what the future held, it was really a special moment.”
LeGrand, now an accomplished entrepreneur, is also a radio analyst for Rutgers football games.
He suffered a spinal cord injury in 2010. At the 2012 ESPY Awards, he won the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
This will mark the third Pinstripe Bowl appearance in Rutgers football history. Rutgers, then under the direction of former head coach Kyle Flood, lost the 2013 Pinstripe Bowl in 2013 to No. 25 Notre Dame.
This season, Rutgers finished 6-6 (3-5 Big Ten). It was the first time that Rutgers has been outright bowl-eligible since 2014 (under the aforementioned Flood).
It marks a significant step for the football program in Schiano’s painstaking rebuild.
“When coach came back, the program obviously had tremendous challenges,” said Pat Hobbs, the Rutgers athletic director.
“As coach says, this is a developmental program. It’s getting really good young men in here, building them up, and watching their growth not just athletically but their maturity and all those things are really important.
“This was a really big step this year for our program. Couldn’t be happier for the young men who are in our program. We’re building, right? As coach says, ‘Keep chopping.’ I was there when coach came back. He explained what that meant, sort of the focus that you have to bring every day. That’s where we are now. We’re a program with focus. We’re a program with leadership in the locker room. Really, really fine young men.”
