“YOU ARE THE WORST COACH I EVER MET” Star player disparaging Scarlet Knights head coach Steve Pikiell…

Steve Pikiell, a father of four who has guided Rutgers Basketball’s comeback on and off the court, will take the helm of the Scarlet Knights for a record eighth season in 2023–2024. The squad made its first NCAA Tournament berth since 1991 in 2021 when it returned under Pikiell’s direction. In 2022, the Scarlet Knights made their way back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1976, when they last made it to the final four. Pikiell passed Tom Young in 2022 to have the most ranking victories in school history (15). The Scarlet Knights made RU history in 2023 as they qualified for the postseason for the third straight year.

With more than 30 years of coaching expertise, the native of Bristol, Connecticut, has a contract extension that will keep him courtside at the RAC through 2030–31. Throughout his playing and coaching career, Pikiell—the 19th head coach in Rutgers men’s basketball history—has played a key role in turnarounds that have led to conference titles and NCAA berths. At Rutgers, Pikiell won his 100th and 300th career games, respectively, in the 2022–2023 campaign.

The 2022-23 Season

• Led RU to 14th ranked victory with a 63-48 win over No. 8 Indiana in the first Big Ten game of the season.
• Defeated No. 1 Purdue on the road 65-64 for second-straight win over No. 1 in 2 seasons and RU’s best 15 ranked wins.
• Picked up his 100^th career victory at Rutgers and 300^th career victory overall during the 2022-23 season.
• Led RU to three straight postseason berths for the first time in school history.
• Had all five starters get Big Ten Postseason Award recognition for the second-straight season.
• Had his second Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year in Caleb McConnell and McConnell went on to win the ESPN National Defensive Player of the Year.

The 2021-22 Season

• NCAA Tournament appearance for second straight season
• 12 wins in the Big Ten Conference are the most in the conference in school-history.
• Led the Scarlet Knights to their first-ever win against a No. 1 ranked team in Purdue, the highest-ranked victory in RU’s history.
• Led the program to RU’s first-ever victory over Michigan, marking a defeat over every Big Ten team.
• Led the team to their first back-to-back-to-back wins over ranked opponents, the first time an unranked team has done so in college basketball history.
• Led RU to their first ever victory at Wisconsin.
• Became RU’s leading head coach on the all-time ranked wins list (13).
• Rutgers was awarded National Team of the Week by ESPN and NCAA.com March Madness this past week.
• Coached Rutgers first-ever major award-winner in the Big Ten Postseason Awards in Caleb McConnell winning Defensive Player of the Year

The 2020-21 Season

• Recipient of the Peter A. Carlesimo Award, presented by the Met Basketball Writers Association to the top coach in the Metropolitan Area. Pikiell earned the accolade for the second straight season and became the first coach to win the accolade from the MBWA four times in his career.
• Led the program to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991.
• Guided the Scarlet Knights to an opening round victory over No. 7 seed Clemson that marked RU’s first NCAA Tournament win since 1983.
• The Scarlet Knights’ win over No. 7 seed Clemson in the opening round marked the highest seeded team defeated in the NCAA Tournament since 1979, before falling to an eventual Final Four team in No. 2 seed Houston.
• While facing a strength of schedule ranked as the second toughest in the nation by ESPN.com, Rutgers went 16-12 overall, ensuring back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in 29 years.
• Under Pikiell’s leadership, Rutgers won 10 Big Ten Conference games, and has earned 21 Big Ten wins over the past two seasons. RU finished tied for sixth in the nation’s top-rated conference.
• The team spent 11 weeks nationally ranked or receiving votes in the AP Poll, peaking at No. 11 in the nation.
• In the regular season, RU earned wins over five teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament – No. 1 seed Illinois, No. 4 seed Purdue, No. 10 seed Maryland, No. 11 seed Michigan State and No. 11 seed Syracuse.

The 2019-20 Season

• Recipient of the 2019-20 Jim Phelan Award, presented annually to the nation’s top Division I coach, and Peter A. Carlesimo Award, presented by the Met Basketball Writers Association to the top coach in the Metropolitan Area
• Was one of 15 coaches on the Naismith Coach of the Year Late 2020 Season Watch List.
• Rutgers joined the rankings for the first time in 41 years, since the final 1978-79 AP Poll (No. 18).
• The Scarlet Knights were No. 24/25 & No. 25/25 in the Jan. 20 & 27 polls, respectively. RU was ranked or receiving votes for eight weeks. –
• RU captured its first 20-win regular season in 37 years, since 1982-83, and first 20-win season overall since 2003-04 and had first winning season in 14 years, since 2005-06 (19-14).
• Led Scarlet Knights to most conference victories (11) in 29 years, since 1990-91 (14-4; A-10), while also posting its first winning league record in 29 years
• Secured the most home regular season wins in the nation (18) and set a program record for home wins in a season.
• Tied for fifth in the Big Ten Conference, the nation’s top-rated league per Ken Pomeroy, after being selected 12th in the preseason media poll.
• Earned RU’s first opening round bye in a conference tournament in 25 years, since the 1995 Atlantic 10 Championship.
• Opened the RWJBarnabas Health Athletic Performance Center to help further the mission of bringing winning back to Piscataway. The 307,000-square-foot, four-story sports facility and parking deck held its grand opening on Sept. 12, 2019, and provides state-of-the-art practice facilities, training areas, locker room and office space for men’s basketball.
• Has welcomed four-star signees from New Jersey in three consecutive seasons.
• Has welcomed four-star classes, with Cliff Omoruyi (2020) joining Paul Mulcahy (2019) and Ron Harper, Jr. (2018) in electing to stay home.

The 2018-19 Season

• Rutgers was recognized as the nation’s Most Improved Team by Sports Illustrated. The Scarlet Knights improved 70 positions in the KenPom.com rankings, best among all Power conference programs.
• Led Rutgers to seven league victories, its most in conference play in 13 years, while competing with a roster ranked 330th in experience. Projected to finish 14th in the preseason, Rutgers tied for 10th in the Big Ten standings.
• Rutgers’ schedule ranked 31st nationally in difficulty per Ken Pom, toughest among all New York Metro programs. 61 percent (19/31) of games were against opponents that earned 2019 NCAA Championship (15) or National Invitation Tournament (4) berths.
• Rutgers concluded its season 75th in the KenPom ratings, the program’s best rank since concluding its 2005-06 campaign at No. 71.
• With wins over No. 16 Ohio State and at No. 22 Iowa, the Scarlet Knights earned victories over two ranked league opponents for the first time since 2007-08.
• Rutgers had five sell-outs at the RAC, its most since 2004-05 (7) and average attendance improved 31.1%.
• Welcomed a four-recruit signing class that included multiple four-star players for the first time at Rutgers since 2008.

The 2017-18 Season

• Rutgers advanced to the Big Ten Conference quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden via wins over Minnesota and five-time national champion Indiana. It marked the first time RU won two conference tournament games since 1998.
• Despite playing the 2nd toughest conference schedule in the Big Ten according to Ken Pom analysis for the second straight year, Rutgers ranked 17th nationally in both scoring defense (64.8) and offensive rebounding (13.15), while placing 27th in 3-point FG% defense (27.0).
• The Scarlet Knights ranked among the top three in the Big Ten in eight statistical categories, including leading the league in offensive rebounding and 3-point FG% defense. RU accomplished these improvements while playing 10 games against programs that advanced to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.
• Defeated No. 15 Seton Hall 71-65 before 8,318 fans at the RAC on Dec. 16, 2017 in the annual Garden State Hardwood Classic. Rutgers was honored as the NABC D-I National Team of the Week for its win over the Pirates.
• Rutgers enjoyed multiple home sell-outs at the RAC in the same season for the first time since 2011. The 8,325 attendance vs. Purdue (Feb. 3, 2108) was the largest at the RAC in 15 years.

The 2016-17 Season

• Began tenure with a 9-1 start, the best head-coaching debut in Rutgers men’s basketball history.
• The Scarlet Knights more than doubled their overall win total, while tripling their conference victory total.
• Rutgers achieved a plus-117 rank improvement in RPI, as well as major NCAA ranking improvements in rebound margin (+299), scoring defense (+272), three point FG defense (+247), offensive rebounds (+244), rebounds (+232), field goal percentage defense (+226) and blocks (+114).
• The Scarlet Knights ranked among the top 100 in 10 NCAA statistical categories, including among the top 50 in seven, after ranking among the top 150 in just two statistical categories in 2015-16.
• Posted an undefeated home mark in non-conference play and jumped-out to a 6-0 record, the sixth-best undefeated start in the 110-year history of the program.
• Played 17 games, 52% of its schedule, against programs that earned NCAA (13) or NIT (4) bids.
• Rutgers out-rebounded opponents in 11 of 18 conference games, after winning the boards in just three league contests the prior year.
• Ten Big Ten games were decided in single digits after suffering 15 conference losses by double digits in 2015-16.
• In the Classroom and Community:
• The program earned a 3.537 GPA in the spring semester, highest ever
• The team GPA for the 2019-20 academic year was 3.237
• 100% of the roster earned a 3.0 in the 2020 spring semester, with nine posting a 3.5 or better, and 11 student-athletes holding a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.
• In the NCAA Graduate Success Rate (GSR) report, the team achieved a score of 80. The score ranked seventh among Big Ten Conference programs and was 60 points ahead of the national average.
• The team’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) score was 984, which ranked fifth among Big Ten programs.
• Program has maintained 100% team participation in Rutgers Leadership Development community service initiatives during his tenure.
• The team has sponsored charity exhibitions, hosted youth clinics, volunteered at Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick, participated in the SAAC Holiday Toy Giveaway, visited children at RWJBarnabas Health facilities around the state and participates annually in the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run.

Prior to Rutgers:

• Led Stony Brook to six postseason appearances over seven years and was the 2016 America East Conference Coach of the Year.
• During his tenure, the Seawolves won four America East regular season championships, achieved 22 or more victories on six occasions and captured five conference player of the year awards.
• A four-time America East Coach of the Year, compiled a 119-48 (.713) record over his final five seasons at Stony Brook.
• Served as an assistant at George Washington under Karl Hobbs from 2001-05. In 2004-05, the Colonials earned 22 wins, their most since 1997-98 and the second most in 50 years, en route to a top 20 ranking. The team won its first Atlantic 10 title, earning an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
• Prior to GW, served as an assistant at Central Connecticut State (1997-01) which, before his arrival, had never posted a winning season at the Division I level. During his tenure at CCSU, the Blue Devils notched an 81-63 (.563) record, including a 25-6 mark in 1999-2000 and a bid to the 2000 NCAA tournament. It marked the school’s first NCAA berth.
• After one season with the New Haven Skyhawks of the USBL (1992), spent three years as an assistant at Yale (1992-95). Moved on to take over as interim head coach at Wesleyan, a Division III school in Middletown, Conn. for one year.
• Began his coaching career at UConn in 1991-92 with a roster that featured future NBA players Donyell Marshall, Chris Smith, Scott Burrell, Donny Marshall and Kevin Ollie.