NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2016 season
By Joey Loose
2. Steve Pikiell (Rutgers)
No NCAA Tournament appearances since 1991 and not exactly any success since: words to describe the troublesome basketball program at Rutgers. Whether in the A-10, the Big East or more recently in the Big Ten, the Scarlet Knights were an afterthought and never really competitive in any of these leagues. In fact, you had to go all the way back to 1991 to even find a season where Rutgers was above .500 in conference play.
The man to bring change to Rutgers was Steve Pikiell. A former point guard under Jim Calhoun at UConn, Pikiell’s coaching career had taken him all over the northeast. He spent time on staffs at Yale and George Washington among other places before landing his first head coaching job at Stony Brook. In eleven years with the Seawolves, he built that team into one of the America East’s best program, culminating in their first ever trip to the Big Dance.
The challenge at Rutgers was far greater but he met it better than many of his predecessors. The first three seasons were spent rebuilding the roster and reigniting the program. In 2020, Rutgers would have broken their long Tournament drought had the Big Dance not been cancelled, finishing in 5th in the Big Ten.
They got the job done this past year, making the NCAA Tournament and winning 10 conference games for a second straight year. Pikiell has Rutgers pointed up and his success at this dormant program is nothing short of remarkable.