Donigan returns to NJ to coach Rutgers

After 13 years at St. Louis(m) University, you might have thought Dan Donigan was set to be a lifer, but those who know him well enough totally get how strong the appeal of home truly was.

The New Jersey native signed a 3-year deal to take the helm at Rutgers on Feb. 1, replacing long-time Scarlet Knights head coach Bob Reasso.

Donigan is still settling in at the school in New Brunswick and trying to sell his home in St. Louis so his wife and 10-month old son can move along with him, but the team has begun the 20-hour per week part of the NCAA-allowed spring training regimen, so he is getting to see his new team in action at the school’s full-sized indoor training facility. The Bubble is just one of the things that sold Donigan on the big move.

“It’s a really great thing to have,” he said. “I loved St. Louis(m) but we had to go 20 miles off campus for an indoor training facility there which his really not ideal.

“When you’re recruiting you have to believe in what you’re selling and here you can get a great education at a beautiful place with good facilities and great competition,” he continued. “I have a good relationship with (leading coaches from youth clubs in the area) and that is one of the main things the administration impressed upon me is that we want to win New Jersey back. A lot of top kids from here have been going to other Big East schools or ACC schools and we need to try and keep hold of them. I want to sell the kids on not just what we can do for them in soccer, but on the lifelong things we have to offer.”

When Rutgers Athletic Director Tim Pernetti contacted SLU and received permission to talk with Donigan, the Hamilton, NJ, native had a lot to think about.

“My situation at St. Louis(m) was that we’d had a good year. I was happy. I loved the school and the team, but at the end of the day I had to consider Rutgers,” he said. “Number one, to be given the opportunity to win a national championship with a good school, good facilities, a good conference and all the resources you need, Rutgers has all of that. There’s a good talent pool right there in the state and on the east coast. The more I learned about Rutgers through the interview process I found it was really my dream job. It was a chance to go back to my home state and really a job I found I wanted badly. Fortunately I was chosen as the guy.”

Now Donigan, who recently named Dave Beck and Brian Grazier as his assistants, has a crash course in leading this particular program.

“I’m getting acclimated now. It’s a big school and I’m trying to wrap my arms around things, to learn the players on the team and to get them used to what we want as a new coaching staff,” he said. “My hat is off to the former staff for leaving a good group. We’re just so impressed with the people in the athletic department, the university and the community and how they want us to do well and wish us success. For me personally it’s good to get back home with family and friends and I’m so grateful for my wife, who is a St. Louis girl, to be open to doing all of this. She is a wonderful person.”

The team will continue with spring training and play matches against area colleges and probably professional teams before concluding the schedule May 1.