A Memorable Season

Kyle Flood’s first bowl win as head coach and the team’s sixth in 10 bowl appearances.

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The Scarlet Knights’ victory over the  University of North Carolina, 40–21, in the Quick Lane Bowl was Kyle Flood’s first bowl win as head coach and the team’s sixth in 10 bowl appearances.

Photography: 
Nick Romanenko

The Scarlet Knights football team concluded a successful inaugural season playing in the competitive Big Ten by routing the University of North Carolina, 40–21, in the Quick Lane Bowl, played at Ford Field in Detroit on December 26. The team had already experienced exciting wins over Michigan and Indiana, a close game against Penn State, and the largest comeback in  university history in defeating Maryland. In beating North Carolina, the team rushed for 340 yards, a Rutgers bowl record, en route to Kyle Flood’s first bowl win as head coach and the team’s sixth in 10 bowl appearances.

Men of the Year

Jason and Devin McCourty, former Scarlet Knights football stars now defensive backs in the National Football League (NFL), were nominated in December by their teams—the Tennessee Titans and the New England Patriots, respectively—to receive the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, given each year to an NFL player for his charitable work. The winner, chosen from a nominee from each NFL team, was announced on January 31, on the eve of Super Bowl XLIX. Jason UCNB’09 and Devin UCNB’10 partnered with Embrace Kids Foundation three years ago to launch their Tackle Sickle Cell campaign, which will visit Brother Jimmy’s in New Brunswick on February 21 for Tackle Sickle Cell Casino Night.

A Giant Induction

The Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2014 welcomed both Shaun O’Hara LC’05 and the 1961 undefeated football team; Courtney Turner DC’02, the first Scarlet Knights gymnast to qualify for NCAA nationals; and baseball’s Charles B. Garrett Sr. RC’30, joining his brother, Alfred T. Garrett RC’21, as the second pair of siblings in the hall.

Scholar Athletes, Indeed

Five Rutgers University–New Brunswick teams—men’s basketball, men’s golf, gymnasticstennis, and women’s soccer—posted perfect scores of 100, and 16 out of 20 teams earned marks at or above 80 percent in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate report for Division I institutions. Rutgers athletics posted an overall score of 86 for 2013–14. Football scored 83, third in the Big Ten conference.

Glory Days

The seventh-seeded Scarlet Knights women’s soccer team (13-6-1) entered the postseason nationally ranked and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, one of three Big Ten teams to qualify.

The Scarlet Knights field hockey team also qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2010, finishing with a 9-10 record. Sophomore back Sofia Walia earned a Second Team All-Big Ten selection, and senior midfielder Jenn Staab won the Sportsmanship Award.

The 1975–76 Scarlet Knights men’s basketball team reunited, signed basketballs for fundraisers, and reminisced about one of the greatest seasons in Rutgers athletics history. The team won its first 31 games, appeared in the NCAA Final Four, featured a National Coach of the Year, and had five of the six leading scorers in Rutgers history.

Redshirt senior Corey Crawford, two-time All-American and indoor and outdoor standout, received the David A. Sonny Werblin Award. Former women’s track and field star Asha Ruth SAS’13, a four-time All-American and one of the most decorated Rutgers indoor and outdoor women’s track and field athletes in history, received the Headley-Singer Award.

A Season of Firsts  in Newark

Rutgers University–Newark head coach Bill Bustamante is New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Women’s Soccer Coach of the Year, a first for Rutgers. After a record season, the Scarlet Raiders earned their first berth in the NJAC championship tournament. Junior Matt Broomall, Goalkeeper of the Year, lead the Scarlet Raiders (16-6-0) to their second consecutive NCAA Division III Championship, the second in  program history, and secured the first playoff win in program history. In volleyball, Sue Riley, a first-year student at Rutgers University–Newark, is NJAC Defensive Player of the Year, and junior Sharee Gordon earned All-Conference honors. They led the team (11–6) to the ECAC Metro/Upstate championship tournament semifinals.

Net Gains in Camden

At Rutgers University–Camden, junior Amanda Hickman, the top singles and doubles tennis player, earned her third-straight NJAC First Team selection, with a 10-2 mark in singles and 9-3 in doubles. Millie Kipp, the top runner on the women’s cross-country team, captured All-NJAC Second Team honors, the first Scarlet Raptor to do so since 2010. Forward Mike Ryan, all-time leading scorer and tournament Most Outstanding Player, buried the winning goal in the 2014 ECAC Division III Metro/Upstate Men’s Soccer championship game, the Scarlet Raptors’ (16-8-1) fourth crown in the last nine seasons—and the 10th championship game for head coach Tim Oswald.