Welcome to episode No. 45 of The Scarlet Faithful podcast. For this episode, I’ll focus on two main topics within Rutgers athletics.
On Thursday night, it was widely reported that Rutgers football was set to hire Minnesota offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. While the move isn’t official yet, there is plenty to discuss regarding what his hire means for the program.
In this podcast, I’ll take a deep dive looking at Kirk Ciarrocca’s career including some past stats regarding offensive performance. In addition, his history in developing QB’s and experience with play calling as well as coaching within the Big Ten. Of course, we’ll discuss his first tenure with Rutgers, what it means for him to come back and whether value in hiring an OC matters in the long run and more.
The discussion then shifts to the success of Rutgers men’s basketball. Following a 64-50 win over Maryland on Thursday night, momentum continues to build. Topics include the reasons why this team is playing so well aside from their defense, whether it’s sustainable and if they have peaked yet. Also includes how the offense can improve, the challenge ahead on Sunday against Iowa, what they need to do moving forward to continue to progress as a program this season and more.
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Scarlet Faithful podcast!
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InPikeWeTrust
January 6, 2023 at 9:46 pm
Aaron, first of all, you reference one of the great movies of all time…Midnight Run. It’s such an underrated film because I don’t think many have seen it but I read about a year or so ago where it was ranked as one of the best “buddy” movies ever. The chemistry between DeNiro and Grodin is gold and it’s so quotable. Me and my friend are constantly quoting it…tremendous stuff! I urge anyone who’s never seen it to find it and watch it. For awhile, it was streaming on Netflix, not sure if it is still or not.
Anyway, great stuff as always on RU hoops. I agree with you that the amazing thing about this run, and this team’s climb up all the important analytics, is it doesn’t feel like they’re peaking. I agree with you that they have some room for growth offensively and it’s clearly within their reach to do so. Whether it’s Cliff, who we have to remind ourselves has improved in-season each of his first two years, Mag finding his niche which is in the post, I think, Cam becoming more assertive, Simpson figuring things out, or Paul being more assertive, etc. There’s lots of very reasonable areas for this team to improve offensively and that bodes well for this season to be a special one in the end.
Other thing I was waiting for you to say because you seemed to be stating the case for it, but you didn’t say, which is we are looking at not only the possible Big 10 Coach of the Year but perhaps the National Coach of the Year. Hate getting ahead of myself but the foundation is certainly being built for these types of accolades to be accomplished which can only help on the recruiting trail.
Keep up the good work and the site looks great!
BataliBoli98
January 7, 2023 at 9:22 pm
Couldn’t agree more with the above comments. Well said. A few takeaways on the podcast:
1. As always, your balanced take is appreciated. A few times you noted that Schiano is what he is at this point. This is 100% correct and disappointing. He is still a micro-manager who enjoys leading “Yes” men. The hope was that his time at OSU would have given him a different perspective.
2. Why is is that Minnesota has more talent than RU?
3. I am sure that we all agree that Samuel Brown is enormous upside but how far can he go with this OL and a poor passing game that has him facing an 8-man front every Saturday?
4. As for hoops, the MD game was yet another example of RU winning in part because of their coaching edge. Again, his rotations, specifically his use of Mag, Hyatt, and Spencer, all worked. Even giving Reiber a run worked. Perhaps Tom Izzo is the only coach in the conference that doesn’t allow RU a coaching advantage.
5. Iowa makes me nervous for a few reasons: They always have shooters and so maybe they are just on tomorrow; starting 0-3 and being down 20+ to IU the other night before coming back to win gives them lots of momentum going into tomorrow; I’m not a huge fan of noon starts. I would rather have Iowa sitting around all day waiting to play. It should be a win and I would hate to see RU lose to that jerk McCaffery. Go RU!
FlaRef
January 8, 2023 at 2:22 am
Noticed a 4star WR in the portal from Minn. Any insight on RU interest with former OC now on board?