Kyle Flood taught math before he taught college football.

Flood came home to Queens, N.Y., in 1993 after graduating from nearby Iona College with a math degree, and got a job teaching algebra and trigonometry at St. Francis Prep, his alma mater.

He was an immediate hit with his students.

“The kids knew what the expectations were; he expected a lot,” former teaching colleague Christopher Mendolia said. “He was laid back and pleasant in the classroom, kids liked him and he wanted to see the kids succeed.”

Flood has applied the principles of teaching students to his two decades of coaching football. He faces the task of replacing Greg Schiano, who left the program after an 11-year run to coach the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flood has kept the principles in place that Schiano used to turn a struggling program into a Big East contender, and the Scarlet Knights have burst out to a 5-0 start.

“Our blueprint for success has not changed,” Flood said during the Big East coaches’ teleconference on Monday. “Over the eight years I’ve been here, there are some years we’ve certainly done better than others, but our blueprint is simple: We want to play really good defense, and that starts with stopping the run. We want to run the ball on offense and protect the quarterback.”

His blueprint for coaching has also remained constant, staying true to his roots as a teacher.

Mendolia said Flood loved the family environment at St. Francis Prep, and he always wanted to teach and coach. He coached the offensive line at St. Francis during his first two years of teaching, and his desire to pursue coaching as a profession developed during those early years.

Coaching allowed him to teach in a different setting. A coach from Iona referred him to the coaching staff of Long Island University-C.W. Post. He continued teaching after he took the offensive line job at C.W. Post, commuting to the school from Queens.

He stayed at C.W. Post for two years before accepting his first Division-I coaching position at Hofstra in 1997. He learned a spread no-huddle offense under Hofstra head coach Joe Gardi from 1997-2001 and helped guide the Pride to its first Atlantic 10 Conference championship in his final season on staff.

Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler hired Flood as his offensive line and associate head coach in 2002 after former Hofstra offensive coordinator Dave Brock recommended Flood for the position. Flood’s approach immediately made an impression on Keeler.

“I can remember so well sitting in his offensive line meetings and saying to myself, ‘This guy is such a meticulous teacher,’” Keeler said. “And it translated on the practice field too, in terms of being such a good teacher and so well prepared.”

The offensive line improved under his direction. And with the team transitioning to a spread offense in its first year under Keeler, his experience with the offense at Hofstra eased the transition for his players.

Delaware’s line paved the way for 207.6 rushing yards per game in 2003. Running back Germaine Bennett racked up 1,625 yards that season, enough for third all-time in the school’s history. Delaware went 15-1 and won the Division I-AA national championship.

Christopher Edwards, a starting lineman in 2003, said Flood’s detail-oriented instruction prepared the unit to dominate in the championship season.

“He definitely broke down every opponent, every player we were going against individually,” Edwards said. “Every week he would give us an inventory packet with what we were expected to do.”

Flood coached at Delaware one more season before he took the offensive line job on Schiano’s staff at Rutgers in 2005.

In Flood’s first year, the team went 7-5 and made its first bowl appearance since 1978. Flood took on many roles while coaching under Schiano. In 2007 he became run-game coordinator for the Scarlet Knights, and in 2008 he became Schiano’s assistant head coach.

For the 2009 season, he served as Rutgers’ co-offensive coordinator.

Flood brought a marked improvement to the Rutgers running game. Future Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice led the Scarlet Knights with 198 rushing yards per game in 2007. Though its run game didn’t see the same kind of production after 2007, Rutgers qualified for bowl games in the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 seasons.

Flood is looking to continue the program’s success under Schiano.

Thus far, he’s held up the blueprint formed around strong defense and a dominant rushing game. The Scarlet Knights have rushed for 148 yards per game while holding opponents to 60.6 yards per game.

And Flood continues to apply his teaching mentality to coaching. His ability to reach out and connect with the entire team has gone a long way toward the program’s unbeaten start this season.

“He was always there trying to step outside of his framework,” senior wide receiver Tim Wright said during a teleconference. “From the beginning he was authentic and the players felt that, so it was easy to get along with him once he stepped into the head coaching position.”

Published on October 11, 2012 at 2:55 am

Contact Jacob: jspramuk@syr.edu