Why Rutgers football's Greg Schiano can coach more, fundraise less

BEDMINSTER – Greg Schiano was hired back in December of 2019 to coach the Rutgers football team and restore pride in the program.

But because of a lack of support that existed within the athletic department, there’s one major responsibility that Schiano couldn’t place his full focus on.

Once new Rutgers president William Tate and athletics director Keli Zinn came onboard, they assumed much of the fundraising responsibility that had fallen squarely on the shoulders of Schiano and his top lieutenants, especially during the offseason.

And in the NIL era, fundraising requires countless hours of outreach and relationship building – hours that precluded Schiano from placing his full attention on issues surrounding his team.

“When I took the job, there was no such thing as NIL,” Schiano said Monday at his annual charity golf outing at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club . “And then, all of a sudden, that became a very big thing. For whatever reason, we weren't set up to do it the way other schools were.

“So we did it ourselves. (Chief of Staff Kevin MacConnell) and myself, we kind of just did our own fundraising. And that's hard to do. It takes so much time. And it takes time away from the thing that I'm actually hired to do, and that's recruit and develop young men to win football games.”

Zinn and her new administration have made it the top priority to fundraise and develop corporate sponsorships, infusing the entire department, including Rutgers football , with resources it had never had before – certainly not to the level of most of its Big Ten peers.

Schiano’s ability to retain star wide receiver KJ Duff provided all the evidence needed to show things are different.