College Football Capsules: AP source says assistant Flood accepts Rutgers job
Rutgers has turned to assistant Kyle Flood to replace Greg Schiano as the team's head coach, hours after Florida International's Mario Cristobal passed on a chance to take over the Scarlet Knights.
A person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Monday that Flood had accepted an offer to become Rutgers' next coach. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract details were still being completed.
Flood is expected to be introduced Tuesday at a news conference on the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J.
Cristobal, a former Rutgers assistant who has been with FIU for five seasons, appeared to be Rutgers' first choice. The school tried to work out a deal with him earlier Monday. When he decided to stay in Miami, Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti quickly went to Flood, who should provide stability.
Schiano left Rutgers last week to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach, leaving the school scrambling for a replacement less than a week before national signing day.
The 41-year-old Flood was promoted to interim coach and interviewed for the job over the weekend. He has been a member of Schiano's staff since 2005, coaching tight ends and offensive linemen while working his way up to assistant head coach in 2008.
During Schiano's time at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights went from major college football laughing stock to consistent winners in the Big East. Flood's first season with Rutgers was the program's first winning season since 1992. The Scarlet Knights have had only one losing season since 2005, going 5-1 in bowl games during the past seven years.
Rutgers finished 9-4 last season and returns most of the key players from that team.
Before Schiano's departure, Rutgers was working on a highly rated recruiting class. Flood and the rest of the staff, along with Pernetti, worked frantically through the weekend to hold on to the players who had verbally committed to Rutgers.
With Flood taking over, the chances are good Rutgers can hold on to many of its top recruits.
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.
He went to high school in New York, played football at Iona College in New Rochelle, just north of the city, and began his college coaching career Long Island University-C.W. Post in 1995.
Cristobal: 'Best recruiting class' kept him at FIU
MIAMI (AP) — Mario Cristobal is a Miami native, played his college football for the Hurricanes and often speaks of how appreciative he is to have the chance to coach in his hometown at Florida International. He's in no hurry to leave, either.
Despite being pursued by Rutgers to replace Greg Schiano, Cristobal said Monday night he is staying with the Panthers, the once-moribund program he has led to consecutive bowl appearances. While there were widespread reports Monday that he was leaving FIU, Cristobal insisted to his team that he remains committed — and said Wednesday's signing day will be a big day for the program.
About 45 players visited Cristobal's office Monday, prompting the coach to call an impromptu team meeting to alleviate their concerns.
"This will be the best recruiting class we have ever had," Cristobal said in an email to The Associated Press on Monday night.
Rutgers turned to assistant Kyle Flood to replace Schiano as the team's coach, hours after Cristobal passed on a chance to take over, a person with knowledge of the decision told the AP on Monday. Schiano left Rutgers to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Known as a strong recruiter, Cristobal has energized the FIU program. FIU lost 31 of its first 40 games under Cristobal, and has gone 15-7 since, winning a bowl game to close the 2010 season and losing to Marshall this season in another postseason appearance.
That success has led to interest from other schools. Cristobal, who also was a candidate to take over at Pittsburgh several weeks ago, got a four-year extension from FIU in August, and it's believed that talks have been ongoing about yet another deal.
Even though he's a Miami native, Cristobal — who makes just under $500,000 annually at FIU in base salary — has Rutgers ties, having once been an assistant at the school.
''We have built a great program," Cristobal said. "It is a great time to be a Panther."
-- Tim Reynolds
Bernhardt, Fitzgerald join Penn State's staff
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (AP) — New Penn State coach Bill O'Brien has added two more staffers in special assistant Jim Bernhardt and director of strength and conditioning Craig Fitzgerald.
O'Brien, announced Jan. 7 as Penn State's coach, is currently working with the New England Patriots as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach as they get ready for Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants in Indianapolis.
Bernhardt, also director of player development, coached O'Brien when he played at Brown. Bernhardt, who was defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the Bears, has also worked at Central Florida.
Fitzgerald has spent the past three years in charge of South Carolina's strength and conditioning, where he worked with new Penn State secondary coach John Butler. Fitzgerald was on staff at Maryland in 2003-4 with O'Brien. He has also worked at Catholic University, Arizona State and Harvard.
Wednesday is National Signing Day, one of the key dates of O'Brien's first year.
Paterno family plans to sell DVDs of memorial
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Joe Paterno's family says they'll be selling copies of the coach's memorial service and donating the proceeds to charity.
A statement Monday from son Scott Paterno says numerous media outlets have expressed an interest in selling copies of the emotional public memorial service that drew about 12,000 people to a campus arena last week.
The family says they'll soon launch a website where copies can be purchased on DVD. The family says any money generated by the sales would go to charity.
Joe Paterno died Jan. 22 from lung cancer, a little more than two months after he was fired from Penn State in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving a former assistant coach. Paterno was never charged in the scandal.
Iowa releases some records from Coker case
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The University of Iowa is refusing to release records showing how its administration responded to a woman's sexual assault claim against running back Marcus Coker.
The school released nine pages of records on Monday that don't shed any light on the situation involving Coker, who was suspended for last month's Insight Bowl for unspecified misconduct and later left the football program. The school claimed all other documents in the case cannot be released because of a student privacy law.
A woman who received medical treatment Oct. 28 told police Coker assaulted her hours earlier at his residence. Coker was not charged criminally after the woman refused to seek charges, but his suspension came after a university investigation. Coker played the final five games of the regular season before his suspension.
Sheridan added to Meyer's Ohio State staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State has announced that Bill Sheridan will join new coach Urban Meyer's coaching staff as a defensive assistant.
Sheridan, a Detroit native who attended Grand Valley State University, has coached for 31 years including seven seasons in the NFL. He was the linebackers coach for the Miami Dolphins the past two seasons. He won a Super Bowl ring in 2007 in his five years with the New York Giants.
Ohio State's release said it was unknown what position or group of players Sheridan will coach. He has served as an assistant at Maine, Cincinnati, Army, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Ohio State rival Michigan at the college level.
