Rutgers Football: The Offseason 'To Do' List for the Scarlet Knights

With Schiano's departure to the NFL, the to-do list got a bit longer for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football program.

What seemed to be an easy offseason for Rutgers, transitioning from a team picked last in the Big East in 2011 to a team poised to win the Big East in 2012 got a lot more interesting after Schiano chose to take over the Tampa Bay Bucs.

A team returning a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, along with the second full season under a complete coaching staff that was working together well, seemed like a good combination.

However, it was not to be.

Now, in scramble mode as rumors abound surrounding a shakeup of the current staff of coaches, RU finds itself with a lot of work to do in preparing for 2012.

The No. 1 item on the to-do list for Rutgers has already been accomplished: name a new head coach.

RU athletic director Tim Pernetti was set to name Mario Cristobal head coach, but when negotiations fell through, he had to act fast with signing day approaching.

In the end, he settled on current staff member Kyle Flood, who had served as the offensive line coach, as the new head coach at Rutgers.

That led to the completion of the second item on the to do list: hold the recruiting class together.

Flood did just that.

Here are five more things the Knights have to do this offseason to make 2012 the year RU wins the Big East and please the fanbase...

1. Assemble a Coaching Staff

Flood needs to figure out which coaches are staying and which coaches are going to either join Greg Schiano in Tampa Bay or to move on other opportunities.

Rumors abound surrounding OC Frank Cignetti (pictured, picture from scarletknights.com), tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, Jeff Hafley (secondary coach) and P.J. Fleck, who was instrumental in recruiting talented receivers like Leonte Carroo and Carlton Agudosi in this year's recruiting class.

It seems like Cignetti is heading to the NFL and Fleck is heading to Tampa, although RU's official athletics site, ScarletKnights.com, lists the two as current coaches.

Flood needs to act quickly to assemble a solid coaching staff to coach up this young team.

2. Schedule a Quality Opponent

Rutgers' out-of-conference schedule is Kent State, Tulane and Army. Hello, 3-0!

Well not quite, as those are not the Knights' first three games.

One of the hallmarks of the Schiano era was light scheduling.

While picking up wins is important, and the ultimate goal is to win the Big East, Rutgers is now at the level where it can make it to bowl games with its play in the Big East and does not need cupcake wins as it did in say, 2005.

No one is asking to play the Top 5 in the AP poll as the out-of-conference slate, but can we see one of the top level teams on RU's schedule?

3. Figure out Ticket Pricing

Rutgers' marketing department has been somewhat of a disaster over the past decade.

You need look no further than the decline in season ticket sales for RU football, the lack of crowds at RU men's basketball games, and even more stark, the lack of crowds at RU women's basketball games.

Part of the problem is pricing.

The public can buy a ticket to a men's game for an average of $40—that's a lot for a team that hasn't made the NCAA tourney since 1991.

The women's tickets are a bit more palatable at between $10 and $22.50 per ticket, but still, they glean no crowds.

Football tickets have risen astronomically since the team started going to bowl games in 2005.

A season ticket on the lower level around the 20-yard line went from what used to be 20 bucks a game in 2004, to $55 a game in 2011.

This rise occurred as the economy has faltered.

The result has been 2-for-1 ticket promotions to sell tickets to the games that are less than desirable (which is a lot of them considering the state of the out of conference schedule and the state of the Big East), which serves to alienate season ticket holders who now figure they can do better getting tickets in the secondary market or as deals arise.

4. Find a Kicker

With a solid defense and an up-and-down offense, you play a lot of close games.

Since the departure of Jeremy Ito in 2007, the Knights have struggled to find any kind of consistency in the kicking game.

San San Te had an up and down career at RU, and despite his struggles in 2011, no one even challenged him for the kicking job.

Now, the Knights have only a true freshman in Kyle Federico listed as vying for the position.

5. Settle on a Quarterback

The old adage is that if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have any.

Schiano mishandled a lot of things as head coach of Rutgers and not the least of which was quarterback play.

Tom Savage left RU after being a highly touted recruit largely due to his perceived treatment when he was vying for playing time with current co-starter, Chas Dodd.

Dodd was replaced by Gary Nova and then regained his job at the end of last season.

Savage tried to re-enroll at RU, but was denied a hardship waiver.

Flood needs to figure out who his guy is and clearly define roles going into 2012.