Despite rough season and scandal, Kyle Flood’s tenure at Rutgers was positive
On Sunday, November 29th, Kyle Flood was notified by Rutgers University President Robert Barchi that he had been fired as the head football coach at Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights (4–8, 1–7 Big Ten) suffered a 46–41 home defeat against Maryland last Saturday(3–9, 1–7 Big Ten)to end its season at a dismal four wins. Rutgers held a 31–13 lead at halftime before yielding its 18 point lead in the second half which makes the loss even more heartbreaking.
If the Knights had won, they likely would have earned a bowl birth, even though they would have just five wins because there are not enough six win teams to fill the 80 bowl games this year.
Flood took the helm of the Rutgers football program in 2012 when former head coach Greg Schiano resigned his position to become the head coach of the Tampa Buccaneers in the National Football League.
The Queens, New York native, was able to keep the top-25 recruiting class that Schiano had built intact.
In his first season as head coach in 2012, Flood led Rutgers to a 9–4 season and won the school’s first conference championship when the team earned a share of the Big East Championship. The team was ranked as high as No. 15 in the Bowl Championship Series top-25 standings in 2012.
The Big Ten conference added Rutgers to it’s ranks during the season and the Scarlet Knights would join the conference in July, 2014.
Rutgers also was invited to compete in the best bowl game it has ever been to in school history, the Russell Athletic Bowl. The Scarlet Knights fell to Virginia Tech 13–10 in overtime.
In April, seven Rutgers players were selected in the 2013 NFL Draft, the most of any college football program.
As a member of the American Athletic Conference in the 2013 season, Rutgers secured a birth in the Pinstripe Bowl after going 6–6. Flood’s Knights took their bowl opponent, Notre Dame to the brink. Rutgers trailed 19–16 midway through the fourth quarter before the Irish broke away to capture a 29–16 victory.
Entering it’s first year in the Big Ten, Rutgers was unanimously selected to place last in the conference. But the Scarlet Knights proved they would be a force to reckoned with in the 2014 season.
Rutgers was victorious eight times in it’s inaugural season in the Big Ten and had an overall record of 8–5 with three conference wins against Michigan, Indiana and Maryland. The team slated to finish last in the Big Ten East Division placed in fourth, ahead of Michigan, Penn State and Indiana.
Flood became the first coach in Rutgers history to earn trips to bowl games in his first three seasons when the Scarlet Knights accepted an invitation to play in the Quick Lane Bowl against North Carolina.
The Knights beat the Tar Heels 40–21 in dominating fashion and running back Josh Hicks was named most valuable player after carrying the ball 19 times for 202 yards and scoring a touchdown.
Wide receiver Leonte Carroo was a First-Team All-Big Ten selection after catching 55 passes for 1,086 yards and 10 scores in 2014.
The Scarlet Knights were awarded the Lambert-Meadowlands Championship after the conclusion of the year. The award is given to the best Division I FBS team in the Northeast.
The 2015 season kicked off with a lot of promise for Rutgers. At Big Ten media day in July, Carroo wore a red rose on his suit to express his goal of playing in the Rose Bowl.
The lofty dreams and expectations soon dissipated.
In August, Flood suspended five players for the first half of the team’s first game against Norfolk State for violating team rules and breaking curfew. Those players included quarterback Chris Laviano and Carroo.
Five Rutgers players were arrested for various crimes including assault in September and Flood contacted a professor in an attempt to change the grade of cornerback Nadir Barnwell which is against school policy.
Flood was suspended for three games because of his transgressions. Many believed that Flood had lost control of the program between the arrests of his players and breaking a rule by contacting a professor which most coaches are aware of.
The five arrested players, three of which were starters in the defensive secondary were kicked off of the team.
Rutgers was unable to defeat its off the field issues and won only four games in the 2015 season and finished tied for last in the Big Ten East with Maryland.
Before being named head coach in 2012, Flood was the offensive line coach on Schiano’s staff. He held the position on the banks since 2005 and was promoted to assistant head coach in 2008.
During Flood’s 11 seasons at Rutgers as both the offensive line coach, assistant head coach and head coach, the Knights went to nine bowl games, won six bowl championships and won the Big East championship.
Several big uglies on the offensive line that Flood had coached are now in the NFL. They include former San Francisco 49ers player Anthony Davis, a first round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, Jeremy Zuttah, Clark Harris, and Andrew DePaola.
There are currently 16 former Rutgers players on NFL rosters that Flood has coached.
During his four years as head coach of the Scarlet Knights from 2012–2015, Flood compiled a 27–23 record, led the program to three bowl appearances including a Quick Lane Bowl Championship, and won the Big East championship which is the one and only conference title Rutgers has thus far.
Flood captured nearly all of those accolades with a poor athletic director in Julie Hermann and very little support from the administration.
Academic success under Flood was high as the team had a record high GPA in 2013 and ranked 12th nationally in APR in 2015.
Flood was part of the Rutgers football program for over a decade and played a role in transforming it from a doormat into a respectable program that contends for a bowl game nearly every year.
Despite his faults and mistakes this season, Flood did a lot more good than bad in his 11 year tenure on the banks.
