ROSELLE, N.J. — Two and half weeks after he was introduced as the head coach at Rutgers, Steve Pikiell spoke before 250 college and high school coaches at Roselle (N.J.) Catholic — and by all accounts he hit it out of the park.
Pikiell had sweat beading off his head after an energetic 45-minute session in which he described his coaching and recruiting philosophy to the coaches.
“This is really a basketball thing,” he told SNY.tv and NJ.com. “I want them to know I’m a good guy, [I put in] an honest day’s work, I’m going to work hard. I want people to be proud of the Rutgers program, and I hope they got a little taste of that tonight.”
Pikiell was added to the clinic to replace new TCU coach Jamie Dixon and joined a Who’s Who of college coaches, including Kentucky’s John Calipari, Kansas’ Bill Self, SMU’s Larry Brown, South Carolina’s Frank Martin, Hostra’s Joe Mihalich and Syracuse’s Mike Hopkins.
Pikiell said he’s been busy “running around” and was happy to sweat and “get the juices flowing.”
He has already added one player — Roselle Catholic senior guard Matt Bullock — and two coaches — UConn’s Karl Hobbs as his associate head coach and Stony Brook’s Jay Young as an assistant — to his staff and still has more work to do with the NCAA late signing period beginning April 13.
“I’m close, though, I’m getting close,” Pikiell said of his staff.
As for recruiting, he said, “We gotta add a lot. You know what our roster looks like, so we have to be smart about who we add and when we add them, so we’ll start having some kids visit campus and hopefully get some good additions to our roster.”
Sophomore point guard Corey Sanders will test the NBA Draft waters, but if he and redshirt junior Nigel Johnson both return, the Scarlet Knights should have a strong backcourt.
Pikiell chatted with numerous coaches, including Roselle Catholic’s Dave Boff, whose team has won two of the last four New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles, and Linden’s Phil Colicchio, who reached the TOC final this season before losing to Bob Hurley and unbeaten St. Anthony’s.
“I think with such high-profile coaches here today, a Larry Brown, a John Calipari, the one guy who really stuck out and I think most of the people here were really anxious to meet Steve Pikiell, Colicchio told SNY.tv. “And he didn’t disappoint. He was really dynamic, I thought he did a really good job of showing us his personality and his vision at Rutgers. And afte talking with him on the sideline, I’m really, really excited. I didn’t know him prior to this, but I’m really excited of his view of Rutgers and what he thinks he’s going to accomplish there, and it seems like he has a plan. For the first time in a while, I’m really, really excited about Rutgers.”
Pikiell has yet to offer Linden sophomore guard Tavon Jones, but Colicchio said, “I’m looking forward to him recruiting our sophomore Tavon Jones and Linden kids in the future.”
He added: “I think anybody who comes into that situation needs to connect with all New Jersey coaches, not just the Bob Hurleys or the Dave Boffs or the guys who have the better players, I think every single coach in New Jersey needs to get behind Rutgers.”
Boff, meantime, already knew Pikiell from when the coach recruited Jameel Warney to Stony Brook. He then followed up by landing the 6-4 Bullock as his first commitment at Rutgers. Bullock won two TOCs, three State titles and four State Sectionals titles at RC.
“I think it was a great situation for both Matt and Coach Pikiell that Matt was available late for Rutgers to get when he got the job because the state of New Jersey has been asking a Rutgers coach to sign a big-time high school player,” Boff said. “So for Steve to sign a first-team All-State kid from Roselle Catholic in his first week or two on the job was really great.
“In terms of what Matt can do for their program, hopefully he can bring a winning mentality there. He can STeve start to change the culture, the way that he wants to, the way that he did at Stony Brook. I think Matt has an opportunity to come in and be a pretty big-time player for them.”
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