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The relationship between Rutgers football head coach Greg Schiano and Miami head coach Mario Cristobal goes deeper than just the usual connections through coaching circles.
There is a bond and a brotherhood between the two that is very much apparent. It is beyond the usual coach-speak and professional respect found between two opposing coaches.
And with Miami facing Rutgers in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl at the end of December, Schiano and Cristobal will face each other. Prior to taking over Rutgers in 2001, Schiano was the defensive coordinator at Miami.
That’s where he first met Cristobal, who was then a graduate assistant.
“I actually had the honor of picking him up at the airport when he was interviewing to be a defensive coordinator at Miami,” Cristobal said last week in a conference call with the media.
“Instantly he was the hardest worker in the building. It’s someone I patterned my habits after. Someone that was a rising star in the profession. When he got this opportunity at Rutgers, he afforded me the opportunity which was a tremendous blessing and honor.”
The graduate assistant made such an impression that Schiano asked him to join his staff at Rutgers.
Cristobal would spend three years at Rutgers, the last in 2003 as their offensive line coach. From there, he would go back to Miami and by 2007, he was named the head coach at FIU.
The lessons learned at Rutgers from Schiano played a part in developing and guiding Cristobal through head coaching stops at FIU, Oregon and now at Miami.
“Always found a way to teach. When you’re a head coach, you’re really, really busy, you sometimes forget one of your major obligations is to develop the people under you. He always just found a way to push and challenge me, to help me develop. Never held back. I appreciated that,” Cristobal said.
“I was a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mario-cristobal-respect-rutgers-football-104111741.html
Author : Rutgers Wire
Publish date : 2023-12-11 10:41:11
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