Keli Zinn You’re on the Clock
- Thread starter MadRU
- Start date
Absolutely. She needs to start taking names and flipping tables. She was paid as an AD. It's time for her to start acting like one.
Find the Buyout money now!
Did she do something to you personally? You piss on her in every thread. By all accounts up till now she has done a great job. I have heard some of the money raising stuff that hasn’t been broadcasted publicly and it’s impressive. All smoke and mirrors because she didn’t fire Schiano yet? Lol
No, not at all. She’s just the latest check the box hire. Not impressive at all. She might be doing ok with fund raising right now but most of the programs are continuing to get worse.
Schiano’s kids maybe. The “E” stands for equity. He is transferring Rutgers equity to his kids bank accounts.
This board has some real sad sack fans who piss on every single thing about Rutgers. They take great joy in propounding their misery, all while failing to see some of the good things that are happening.
There are so many young coaches that would kill for a B1G job. Zinn’s job is not hard assuming she can identify the right fit.
I think some don't follow CFB closely enough and if it's not a big name they're unfamiliar. There are always suitable candidates for jobs. For sure a P2 one, including lower level ones.
There are no guarantees. You could get another Ash, Schiano or something better, who knows. You keep trying but the one guarantee is there is always renewed hope in the unknown.
We all have might have our individual preferences but if the person has a resume' worthy of the opportunity, I'm good with it.
Wouldn't it be great if Zinn was able to tell Greg that starting with last night's loss he will have to personally pay for the yearly salary for 10 percent of his staff, and that each loss adds another 10 percent? Or it would be great if she had the power to cut his staff by 10 percent for each loss? I'd start with the Schiano kids.
One can only dream......
One can only dream......
Her real test will be dealingw/ NJ state politics state funding environment.
We have had some pathetic ADs, but none of them ever got dominated by 0-16 UMass. Zinn made history
This should become easy now- they will be losing more money this year by keeping him then what it would cost to fire him. And keeping him will continue to cost over mult years
GS was a DEI hire, Dumb, Embarassing, Inept
When we hired GS, I wanted an offensive coach, been dying for one since he left the first time.
If he gets fired, I still lean in that direction but I'm more open now. With the old clock rules, I thought that kind of coach could be very helpful. With the new clock rules I'm less stuck in it having to be an offensive guy to turn things around.
If he gets fired, I still lean in that direction but I'm more open now. With the old clock rules, I thought that kind of coach could be very helpful. With the new clock rules I'm less stuck in it having to be an offensive guy to turn things around.
Man those fireworks are getting some play online, just as much as game itself
Everything we do is amateur hour. It almost feels like self sabotage with how Rutgers makes every decision.
agree
what she does now defines her.
If he's here Monday, she can't succeed here because she doesn't have the stones, sway, or smarts to get us out of it
Her timeline was shortened very quickly but on the flip side the decision is very clear. My guess is he makes it to IU. After we get shellacked in front of an IU crowd on homecoming, Keli's hands will be tied. The sooner it happens the better at this point. She will have more time to lure her first choice. That list every AD carries in their front pocket she's now carrying in her hand.
This. People thinking we can’t get a good coach because of our past need to take a step back. A B1G head coaching job is tough to beat. Even our past “failures” have landed in amazing coaching jobs
Off the top of my head, Zack Kittley at FAU and Ben Arbuckle the OU OC are names but they're not ready or proven enough yet. Eric Morris just got hired at Ok St. from North Texas.
I'm not as married to that style anymore as I used to be because of the clock rule changes. It's still fine but not necessarily the only way a lower level program can outperform its status on the CFB landscape. Old clock rules, I thought that was the best avenue.
Heupel and Kiffin have done well implementing that Briles type offense so it can work still.
People still think of the B12 as sling it all over and no defense. There is still some of that at some places but there are also teams that will be more ground and pound and like to be more physical. It's morphed somewhat over the last some odd years.
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Chis Ash is ND DC currently.
Jason Eck, Jake Dickert, Dan Mullen, Brian Kelly, Mike Shanahan, Bryant Haines, Charles Huff, Jeff Monken, GJ Kinne are all potential names that are fairly realistic. I would like to see some of them have a good year this year but I'd be okay with giving a shot to any of them and see where it goes.
No guarantees but they're all worthy imo.
Ash and Flood certainly landed on their feet.
How about Charlie Weis Jr?
ChatGPT’s hot list for fun…
| Rank | Candidate | Current job | My take |
| 1 | Joe Harasymiak | UMass HC | The obvious call now |
| 2 | Manny Diaz | Duke HC | Best established option |
| 3 | Fran Brown | Syracuse HC | NJ recruiting monster |
| 4 | Jeff Monken | Army HC | Culture/program builder |
| 5 | Brian Hartline | USF HC | Huge upside/recruiting |
| 6 | K.C. Keeler | Temple HC | Proven winner, NJ roots |
| 7 | Jamey Chadwell | Liberty HC | Wins everywhere |
| 8 | Jason Eck | New Mexico HC | Program-builder profile |
| 9 | Joe Moorhead | Akron HC | Offensive identity |
| 10 | Nunzio Campanile | UConn OC | NJ wildcard |
Current jobs checked against the 2026 coaching landscape.
1. Joe Harasymiak
After what he just did in Piscataway, he’s instantly fascinating.
He’s 40, from New Jersey, played at Springfield, won big as Maine’s head coach, spent years in the Big Ten at Minnesota and Rutgers, became Rutgers’ DC, and now is rebuilding UMass. Then he walked into SHI Stadium and beat Schiano 37–21 as a 29.5-point underdog.
More importantly, he understands exactly what Rutgers is. He wouldn’t need two years learning the Northeast recruiting ecosystem.
My fit grade: A+
2. Manny Diaz
This would be my biggest realistic swing.
Diaz has Power-conference head-coaching experience, coached an elite Penn State defense, understands the Big Ten footprint and has done well at Duke. He’d also represent a genuine philosophical reset rather than Schiano 3.0.
The problem: Rutgers would have to pay him enough to leave Duke.
Fit: A
3. Fran Brown
This is the recruiting play.
Brown is a Camden, NJ native, has deep South Jersey connections and built his reputation as one of the country’s best recruiters before becoming Syracuse’s HC.
If your thesis is:
Rutgers will never outspend Ohio State, but it absolutely cannot keep letting New Jersey’s best players leave.
Brown makes enormous sense.
The difficulty is convincing the Syracuse head coach to make a lateral-ish move.
Fit: A
4. Jeff Monken
This one grows on me the more I think about Rutgers.
Monken has built Army into a sustainable winner despite enormous structural disadvantages. He’s organized, develops players, establishes culture and routinely beats teams with more talent.
And I would not require him to run Army’s offense at Rutgers. Hire Monken as CEO and let him hire modern coordinators.
Fit: A-
5. Brian Hartline
This is the home-run upside gamble.
Hartline is now the USF head coach after becoming arguably the premier WR recruiter/developer in college football at Ohio State.
Imagine selling recruits:
Big Ten + NYC market + Hartline’s NFL/Ohio State development pedigree.
He could completely change Rutgers’ offensive recruiting identity.
Much less proven as a program builder than the first four.
Fit: A- / riskier
6. K.C. Keeler
Sneaky excellent Rutgers candidate.
New Jersey native. Played at Delaware. Won national championships at Delaware and Sam Houston and has spent decades winning at programs without massive resource advantages. He’s now at Temple.
He’s 67, which is the drawback. You’re probably getting a 4–6 year bridge, not a 15-year era.
But if Rutgers wanted competence immediately?
I’d call him.
Fit: B+
7–10
Jamey Chadwell: Has won basically everywhere and creates an offensive identity immediately.
Jason Eck: Very interesting younger builder. Sporting News had him among the biggest risers in its 2026 coaching rankings.
Joe Moorhead: Penn State OC pedigree, Northeast background, offensive coach. Akron hasn’t made him a hot national name, but Rutgers could do worse.
Nunzio Campanile: I’d interview him because of his NJ connections and familiarity with Rutgers, but I wouldn’t hire him unless he absolutely blew me away in the process. Hiring another Schiano-tree guy defeats part of the purpose of a reset.
The three calls I’d make first
Harasymiak → Diaz → Brown.
And Harasymiak is suddenly really interesting.
Think about the symbolism of it: Schiano’s former defensive coordinator takes over arguably the worst program in FBS, then returns to Piscataway and humiliates Rutgers in Year 2. That’s almost an audition happening directly in front of Pat Hobbs’ successor.
There’s another reason I’d favor this type of candidate over chasing a glamorous name. Rutgers is 31–42 overall and 15–39 in Big Ten play in Schiano’s second stint, and last night’s result came after a 2025 season that was already raising questions about whether the rebuild had plateaued.
At this point I wouldn’t be looking for someone to “restore Rutgers.” I’d want someone willing to tear down assumptions about how Rutgers football has to operate: aggressive portal roster management, modern offense, much more sophisticated NIL allocation and a staff built around development rather than nostalgia for 2006–2011.
Harasymiak is probably my No. 1 realistic candidate right now. The fact that his UMass team just demonstrated that it can be tougher and better prepared than Rutgers makes the case pretty damn compelling.
I've seen Diaz name thrown around but not sure if he'd leave Duke for us. I'd also like to see what he does this year there. Same for Eck, Huff and some others. Eck (73 new players last year at NM in his first season, most turnover in the FBS) and they got a share of the MWC regular season title and lost in the champ game) Huff did nice at Marshall and a lot of new players at USM and went from a 1 win season to a 7 win season in his first year. Nice first win this year at UNLV against Mullen. He hired Kevin Decker as OC from ODU, a name I've brought up as maybe a potential good OC when he was at Fordham iirc. Huff might be a little bit of job hopper though but if he left things better than he found them, that's fine.
I still would want to see more from Brown or Joe H. KC Keeler is an interesting name but might want to see what he does at Temple first and by the time he shows it he'll be even older so that's an issue too.
Monken I'm good with because he's got a good long track record at the FBS level and I wouldn't assume we'll be seeing triple option. I'd expect he'd adapt as necessary, like Ken N did at SJSU. Brian Newberry at Navy also gets play too but I haven't really read much or paid much attention to him.
I still would want to see more from Brown or Joe H. KC Keeler is an interesting name but might want to see what he does at Temple first and by the time he shows it he'll be even older so that's an issue too.
Monken I'm good with because he's got a good long track record at the FBS level and I wouldn't assume we'll be seeing triple option. I'd expect he'd adapt as necessary, like Ken N did at SJSU. Brian Newberry at Navy also gets play too but I haven't really read much or paid much attention to him.
Monken is one of best CFB coaches, Ask Greg what went wrong on a certain play and he will tell you that he has the "worst seat in the house" and he has to "see the tape". Ask Monken what happened and he can tell you that the OL was using his hands wrong. He sees everything and knows football inside and out. He also recruits well in southern states. BUT - he genuinely loves the option. If you see it live it looks like magic as the ball seems to disappear until play is well underway. Monken also has it made at USMA and he got a new contract. Army ready to open the new stadium lux boxes. Some day there will be a statue of Monken next to MacArthur. He looks like an Army guy and sounds like an Army, Unlike most former coaches there he was never intimated by the place. He and Boo Corrigan went to brass and made demands and it worked., Boo came from ND. A football dominant AD and good coach make a big difference. That's how Army got fixed
I've been posting on this board for about 10 years that Monken is a perfect fit at Army and don't even think about it.
I’ve read he tried for the Kansas and GT jobs so I’d think he’d be open.
I don’t follow him so closely but I wonder if he’d be married to the option in the P4. Ken N changed now that he’s coaching at SJSU so I’d guess Monken would adapt too.
Zinn wasnt on the field getting shellacked by UMass. That loss is squarely on the inept coaches and our professionally paid amatuers.
Harasymiak is A+ and number one on the list? He is 1-12 and his only win is against Rutgers. Pump the brake and see how it plays out over the season. What's next? Hire the Howard coach after Howard beats us?
Ever used ChatGpt before? It’s regularly a victim of the moment.
“That’s a fair criticism of the list I gave you.
I overweighted the UMass win and Harasymiak’s Rutgers/Northeast fit. A coach who’s 1–12 at UMass absolutely should not jump to No. 1 on Rutgers’ board based primarily on beating Rutgers. He belongs on a watch list, not at the top of the candidate list.
If we’re talking about who Rutgers should actually pursue if Schiano is fired, I’d redo the ranking with proven head-coaching success as a much bigger factor. Manny Diaz, Fran Brown, Chadwell, Monken, etc. should all be ahead of Harasymiak today.”
I agree, he can’t survive the weekend. We have to make a statement this is not acceptable at RU any more
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