New Rutgers coaches have Jersey roots

By Darrell Laurant  |   Saturday, February 09, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Rutgers likes to recruit from the Northeast, and that apparently applies to coaches as well as players.

The two new hires on Greg Schiano's staff announced Friday both have strong roots in the New York/New Jersey area.

Ed Pinkham, hired as a defensive assistant, has spent the past 12 years as defensive coordinator at Colgate. Chris Rippon, who will handle the secondary, spent an equal amount of time at Syracuse before moving to Ole Miss three years ago. He was caught in the revolving door resulting in the dismissal of Ed Orgeron as the Rebels' head coach.

Pinkham and Rippon will replace Darren Rizzi (named head coach at the University of Rhode Island) and Craig Ver Steeg, who took a job with the Baltimore Ravens.

Commentary: Good head coaches keep an eye out for good assistants tossed into the job market this time of year simply because a new head coach wants to bring in his own guys. Rippon was a solid coach at Syracuse back when the Orange was good, and served as defensive coordinator on two Big East championship teams.

Moreover, both new coaches were born and raised in New Jersey.
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