By RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
PISCATAWAY, N.J. — After a hasty search, Rutgers found a replacement for Greg Schiano in one of his protigis.
Longtime assistant Kyle Flood is getting his first shot at running a college football program, replacing his former boss with the Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers promoted Flood to head coach on Tuesday, five days after Schiano left to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — and one day before high school players can officially sign with a school.
So any celebrations with his wife, Amy, and two young children will have to wait for Flood.
“What makes you think I’m going home tonight,” he said after a news conference at Rutgers’ football facility.
The 41-year-old had been a member of Schiano’s staff since 2005, coaching offensive linemen and working his way up to assistant head coach. He became interim coach when Schiano left.
“This search was quick. Very targeted, very precise. We knew what we were looking for,” Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti said. “This is not the same job as it was 10 years ago. We’ve built something really special here.”
Flood received a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $750,000 that will increase by $100,000 with each new year.
Rutgers turned to Flood on Monday soon after Florida International coach Mario Cristobal passed on a chance to replace Schiano, who went 68-67 in 11 seasons with the Scarlet Knights, turning around a moribund program.
The athletic director wouldn’t acknowledge the FIU coach was a candidate, but he did say that in the end he felt as if he had two good candidates.
“No matter who you hire, there is always going to be some risk,” Pernetti said.
Cristobal released a statement through FIU on Tuesday that did not mention Rutgers.
“We have a great thing going here and I am excited about the future of the program,” he said.
Pernetti made himself an assistant coach over the weekend so he could take part in the recruiting process, and help the staff hold together a class that has been receiving high marks from analysts. Flood’s strong relationships with high school coaches in New Jersey were a plus, but Pernetti insisted he did not make this hire based on saving the class.
“This program is bigger than one recruiting class,” he said.
Though that class got a big boost Tuesday night when Darius Hamilton, a defensive end from Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., and one of the top-rated players in the country, announced he will attend Rutgers.
It was more good news on an emotional day for Flood. He fought back tears as he thanked his pregnant wife, kids and parents.
“This has really been humbling, going through this process,” Flood said. “The core values of Rutgers football don’t come and go with any one person. That’s how our players live their lives, and that’s what we’re about here at Rutgers.
“It’s an honor to be the coach here.”
Flood grew up in New York and played at Iona College in New Rochelle, just north of the city. He said he was in his office calling recruits on Monday and didn’t have any time to follow the news that Rutgers was pursuing Cristobal.
He said he doesn’t even remember what time he got the call from Pernetti, who asked the coach to come to his office.
“That’s usually a good sign,” Flood said.
He accepted the job as soon as it was offered, called Amy to tell her the good news, and before he could make another call, he received a call from a recruit, who had already heard that he’d been hired.
“I always felt I was a candidate for the job,” Flood said.
He interviewed with Pernetti on Saturday.
“It was about 20 minutes into that meeting, it was pretty clear to me we had somebody that was equipped and that was tied to all the criteria to do the job,” Pernetti said.
Pernetti said if he didn’t think Flood was the right person, he was prepared to go into signing day without a permanent head coach.
He also said money was not an issue, though hiring a first-time head coach did make Flood more affordable for an athletic department that has received tens of millions in subsidies from the university as the football program has grown.
“It didn’t factor in at all,” Pernetti said.
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. His college coaching career began at Long Island University-C.W. Post in 1995 and Schiano gave him his first job at the highest level of Division I football.
He said his high school coach, Vincent O’Connor, who has been the head coach at St. Francis Prep in Queens, N.Y. for 59 years, was his greatest influence in coaching, along with Schiano.
Flood called Schiano a mentor and a friend, and said that while the “vision” for the program will not change, “I’m not here to be Greg Schiano.”
He inherits the core of a team that went 9-4 last season — the Scarlet Knights’ sixth winning season in the last seven years — and is expected to contend for a Big East title in 2012.
“I’m not worried about blazing my own path. I’m worried about advancing the program forward,” he said. “The things that are good, we want to keep them good. And as we evaluate things, if we think there’s a chance to get better, we want to get better.”
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP
By BILL O’REAR
Tribune-Herald sports editor
It isn’t easy being the underdog in almost every game you play, but that’s usually the life of being a small school on the Big Island.
And that’s a role that second-year Ka‘u High School basketball coach Ravel Kaupu doesn’t mind since his ultimate team goals focus on competing and improving each game, not looking at it as a win-or-fail situation.
“We like being the underdog because nobody expects us to win,” Kaupu said Tuesday night after his gutsy Division II Trojans gave D-I Waiakea a scare before falling 43-35.
The hard-fought Big Island Interscholastic Federation boys basketball game was played at the Warriors Gym.
“We’re a young team with only two seniors,” Kaupu said. “But the guys are playing organized ball with a lot of discipline. We’re right there in winning the game, we just have a two- or three-minute lapse and that hurts us.
“Tonight, it was close in the end but we didn’t block out on a couple of free throws and we missed a couple of easy shots. If we can keep working hard, we’re going to get better and surprise someone.
“We’ve just got to execute better. We’re preparing for the D-II playoffs and we believe we’re a contender.”
The visiting Trojans (2-9) led 11-6 at the end of the first quarter before Waiakea (5-6) rallied to take a 21-20 halftime advantage. The hosts then outpointed Ka‘u 8-6 in the third period and stretched their final margin to eight as Warrior sophomore guard Bryson Ita drained four free throws in the last 41 seconds to help hold off the hustling Trojans.
“Ka‘u came out with a great defensive plan,” Waiakea coach Paul Lee said. “They mixed up their defense and doubled our big men. They were very aggressive with a lot of intensity that we didn’t match most of the night.
“I guess we’ve got to do a better job as coaches to get them more prepared. We’re young and work on a lot of things at practice, but it doesn’t always carry over into the game. Give Ka‘u credit. Tonight, they were really aggressive and took it to us.”
Junior Owen Sandstrom led Waiakea with 11 points and senior Rylan Kawazoe had 10, including clutch jumpers to end the second and third quarters. Sophomore Lucas St. George had eight points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.
Senior Alika Kaopua led the Trojans with 10 points. Senior sharpshooter Holden Galigo had nine points, including two 3-pointers, and junior point guard Jansen Candaroma chipped in with seven points and a solid all-around floor game.
“Nobody expects Ka‘u to win,” Kaupu said. “They come out with a half-effort and that helps us. If we can play our game and with some discipline, we’ve got a chance to beat a lot of teams. We’re really looking forward to the playoffs.”
JV: Waiakea 37, Ka‘u 15. Waiakea: Jeff Tomas, 15; Mark Pacris, 12.
Ka‘u 11 9 6 9 — 35
Waiakea 6 15 8 14 — 43
• St. Joseph 56, Keaau 48: At Hilo Civic, senior Sebi Ohara-Saft hit seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points and senior Thomas Fairman added 19 as the Cardinals won their third straight game to finish the regular season 6-6.
St. Joe will host Honokaa in the quarterfinals of the BIIF Division II tournament next Wednesday.
Senior Kau Eggers led the D-I Cougars (1-10) with nine points.
Keaau 11 14 8 15—48
St. Joe 18 16 10 12—56
• Pahoa 72, Hilo 69: Senior Devin Freitas-Gonsalves scored 28 points, including four treys, and Nick Fisher had 16 to lead the D-II Daggers (8-3).
Sophomores Jodd Carter and Jalen Carvalho scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, and senior Kamu Patnaude 13 to lead the D-I Vikings (7-4).
JV: Pahoa 36, Hilo 34. Pahoa: Ben Padilla-Gamtonia, 18. Hilo: Fa‘a Fuava, 10.
Hilo 19 11 19 20 — 69
Pahoa 16 19 20 17 — 72
• Hawaii Prep 51, Konawaena 39: At Waimea, senior Dakota Berman scored 20 points and junior Kama DeSilva 10 to lead the D-II Ka Makani (7-3).
Kenan Gaspar scored 23 points to lead the D-I Wildcats (7-2).
JV: HPA 55, Kona 37. HPA: Buck Thomas, 16. Kona: Rey Mark Bautista, 13.
Konawaena 11 8 17 3 — 39
Hawaii Prep 15 12 14 10 — 51
• Kealakehe 69, Kohala 58: At Kealakehe, Deion Utrera scored 23 points to lead the D-I Waveriders (5-4).
Jacob Ontiveros added 17 points, and Nalu Marks scored 15.
For Kohala (6-3), Christopher Roxburgh scored 20 points, Weston Cazimero added 13 and Kealen Figueroa scored 12 points.
Kohala 5 17 11 25— 58
Kealakehe 19 16 19 15 — 69