Rutgers Football Head Coach Kyle Flood Said Perception of Program Has Not Changed

When questions were asked post game to head coach Kyle Flood after his Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeated the Norfolk State Spartans 63-13 about the arrests of the five dismissed players this past week, he didn’t say much as he redirected questions to authorities saying “it’s an ongoing investigation”.

Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood/ Photo – Juan Martinez, DoubleGSports

Stemming from an April 25 assault that resulted in a broken jaw of a Rutgers student, and the arrests and charges of now seven former players (adding in Daryl Stephenson and Tejay Johnson), NJ.com reported that the incident was captured on video. In addition, “investigators arrived at the Hale Center Football Training Facility on Aug. 28 where, according to the source, they confiscated cellular phones from an unknown number of team members. According to the source, investigators obtained a court-approved order to seize the phones prior to arriving at the facility. None of the players (were) questioned at the time, the sources said.”

It is unclear what coaches were around.

Of the five that were on the team this season that were arrested Thursday (Nadir Barnwell, Ruhaan Peele, Delon Stephenson, Razohn Gross, and Dre Boggs), Flood expressed regret reinstating Peele when asked. “Yeah,” Flood said. “…I would say that I do.” Peele was also connected to charges last summer that were eventually dropped.

Boggs is also connected to a home invasion charge. Furthurmore, Barnwell also has multiple run-ins with the law where he was arrested back in 2013 for DWI.

President Robert Barchi released a statement Friday saying the actions of the individuals were “deeply troubling”.

As the press conference dove deeper getting into the emotional side of seeing his players getting arrested for crimes of this nature, Flood let his heart out.

“It rips you apart inside,” he said. “As the head coach, what you try to do with over a hundred players on your team is you try to bring people into their lives to help them make good decisions. And when something like this happens, as the figurehead father of the program, it just rips you apart inside.

“It’s unacceptable what those players did. But I’m going to tell you, there’s a lot of players down in that locker room right now that you’re going to get an opportunity to speak with that are really — that I’m really proud of and that I’m proud to have on this football team.”

Flood who is also under investigation on whether he contacted a professor of Barnwell’s regarding his grades and academic situation, says that each investigation and the arrests of the players don’t change the perception of the family oriented program.

“The people that know our program, the recruits that are committed to us right now in this current class, there is no perception issue right now with our program,” Flood said during his press conference. “I believe those players and families were very well quoted this week. The people that know our program know the success that we’ve had on the field, they know the success we’ve had in the classroom, they know the success that we’ve had in the community, the things we’ve done with the Special Olympics, the things we’ve done with Embrace Kids, the things we’ve done with First Batallion 114th Infantry. So the people that know our program and the people that are invested in our program, that issue doesn’t exist.”

There has been callings of Flood should be fired because of the negativity surrounding the program where they questioned if he is the right man to the lead the team. However, the same players that Flood is proud of stand by the fourth-year head coach, including senior captains Darius Hamilton and Leonte Carroo.

Wide receiver Leonte Rutgers wide receiver Leonte Carroo (4) – Juan Martinez, Double G Sports

“The team loves Coach Flood,” Carroo said. “That’s our guy all the way. That’s our leader. That’s the guy that I have the most faith in and that’s the guy that I want leading this football team this year. I wouldn’t want any other guy leading us this year and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I truly love Coach Flood.”

“I stand by him 100 percent,” Hamilton said. “He’s a great guy, he loves us to death, and we love him back, and I couldn’t ask for a better coach.”

A win definitely helped on Saturday too.