Bowl season is officially upon us as all of the matchups have been announced. Some games are being more anticipated than others but none of the games may have as much history as this one contains.
Today was the official media conference for the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl where both coaches got to sit down and address their feelings about the upcoming matchup as well as the two schools athletic directors and the executive director Mark Holtzman who’s in charge of making this game a possibility every year.
During Holtzman’s opening statements, he had acknowledged the past shared by both Coach Cristobal and Coach Schiano.
“Coach Cristobal and Coach Schiano met in the late 1990s on Butch Davis’ staff with the Miami Hurricanes”. Said Holtzman, “They obviously became close friends. From there obviously they went on to a lot of success.”
This referring to Schiano’s short stint at the University of Miami where Cristobal served as an assistant on his staff under the lead of Coach Butch Jones, along with Cristobal’s short stint at Rutgers as part of Greg Schiano’s coaching staff.
Before we dive into the details of this matchup and what it means for both teams, let’s give a run down of both coaching résumés.
- Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal
- 1998-2000 – Graduate Assistant at the University of Miami
- 2001-2003 – Offensive Line, Tackle and Tight End’s Coach
- 2004-2006 – Tight End and Offensive Line Coach
- 2007-2011 – Head Coach of Florida International University
- 2010 SunBelt Conference Champion
- 2010 SunBelt Conference Coach of the Year
- 2013-2016 – Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator for the University of Alabama
- 2015 – 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year
- 2017 – Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at the University of Oregon
- 2018-2021 – Head Coach at the University of Oregon
- 2019 – PAC 12 Champion
- 2019 – AP PAC 12 Coach of the Year
- 2020 – PAC 12 Champion
- 2022 – Now – Head Coach at the University of Miami
- Career Coaching Record; 74-72
- Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano
- 1989 – Graduate Assistant at Rutgers University
- 1990 – Graduate Assistant at Penn State
- 1991-1995 – Defensive Backs Coach at Penn State
- 1996-1997 – Defensive Assistant for the Chicago Bears
- 1998 – Defensive Backs Coach for the Chicago Bears
- 1999-2000 – Defensive Coordinator at the University of Miami
- 2001-2011 – Head Coach at Rutgers University
- 2006 – Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year
- 2006 – George Munger Award Recipient
- 2006 – Home Depot Coach of the Year
- 2006 – Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year
- 2006 – Walter Camp Coach of the Year
- 2006 – Big East Coach of the Year
- 2012-2013 – Head Coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- 2016-2018 – Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator for Ohio State University
- 2020-Now – Head Coach at Rutgers University
- Career Coaching Record; 86-95 (College Only)
“With Coach Schiano, obviously he gave me my start, was the best mentor I’ve had in this business, always a great friend.” Cristobal opened his statement during the conference. Cristobal gave the media an outlook on the future of the Hurricanes program in his short session with the media, “Certainly it was a priority to get Miami back on track and bringing in some great recruiting classes, developing our current players. There’s been a lot of progress in that direction over the course of the last 18, 24 months. We look forward to continuing that.”
Meanwhile, Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano, a New Jersey native, expressed his happiness in playing a bowl game not far from the New Brunswick campus.
“To be able to play in such a prestigious bowl in our backyard is a bonus. I want to congratulate everyone involved.” This is the third time that Rutgers will be playing at Yankees Stadium, their second appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl. “I can remember going to the first Pinstripe Bowl back when I was here I think it was 2011. What a great experience. Our players, our coaches, our family, our fans, everybody had. I’m looking forward to it.”
Rutgers won their first Pinstripe Bowl appearance in 2011 against Iowa State 27-13, this would mark Schiano’s final game in his first tenure at Rutgers University.
News coming out of the Hurricanes Quarterback room came out today as Cristobal announced that Jacurri Brown will be taking the reins of the Miami offense.
“He’s excited about the opportunity. He’ll be well-prepared. His only focus is this football game and this team. Nothing that’s happened before, nothing after. He has the confidence of his teammates and the entire coaching staff.” Stated Cristobal.
Lastly, both Coaches were asked about their experience on September 11th, 2001 as both coaches were in New Jersey at the time working for Rutgers.
“I remember getting everybody together as a team. We had just gotten here, it was our first season.” Schiano recalled, “I think when you harken back, it was such a different time. Our players weren’t born. Every anniversary of 9/11, that week, I always show a small video to our team, just being that we are here in this location, and share it with them.”
“It’s so important for our players to understand the more recent events in our history, to understand what really goes on outside of our bubble, our football bubble, what really goes on in the world.” Stated Cristobal, “Our players need to understand that that is a day in history that forever we have to remember, honor those that unfortunately fell that day. We keep them always in our hearts and thoughts and prayers with their families.” Cristobal added, closing out the media conference.
Both teams will be gearing up as December 28th looms near and close. Miami will be looking to close their season out on a higher note after posting a 1-3 record in the month of November. As for Rutgers they look to end the season on a higher note as well as they ended their regular season on a four-game losing streak. Kickoff will be at 2:15 p.m. on ESPN.
