During his 14 seasons “On the Banks,” Glenn Crooks has built the women’s soccer program into a perennial postseason participant, one that has reached 13-straight BIG EAST Championships and has garnered seven NCAA Tournament bids, including two Sweet Sixteen appearances.
Quick success is nothing new for Crooks, as the New Jersey native had already built two programs from non-existence into consistent winners when he arrived at RU, and his expertise has paid big dividends for the Scarlet Knights.
Now entering his 14th year, Crooks has directed Rutgers to a 155-106-36 (.579) overall record and a 61-43-18 (.574) mark in BIG EAST play, 13 berths in the BIG EAST Tournament and six trips to the NCAA Championship. Under his tutelage, 16 Scarlet Knights have earned a total of 27 All-BIG EAST certificates and 10 Scarlet Knights have earned 17 NSCAA All-Region awards.
With RU’s back against the wall and five games remaining in the regular season, Crooks rallied the troops and led the Scarlet Knights to a 4-0-1 conference finish and 13th-straight BIG EAST Tournament appearance. Appearing as the No. 5 seed in the National Division, Rutgers dropped its opening round matchup, 3-1, to rival UConn. But the Scarlet Knights did not stop there. RU obtained an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament - the program’s seventh - and advanced to the Second Round for the second time since 2009.
Battling multiple injuries in 2011, RU battled to its 12th-straight BIG EAST Tournament appearance. Always a strong defensive unit, Crooks guided center back Shannon Woeller to an All-BIG EAST Third Team selection. Woeller’s conference accolade marked the 17th-straight year that RU has been honored by the league with an all-conference pick.
Scarlet Knights excelled on the international stage in 2012, as former All-American Carli Lloyd won a gold medal with the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2012 London Olympics and redshirt junior Jonelle Filigno took home bronze with team Canada.
Lloyd – who also scored the game winner in the 2008 gold medal game – started the final five contests for USA in London. The midfielder scored four goals throughout the games, including the game-winning tallies vs. Japan and France.
This was the first medal for the Canadian Women’s National Team in soccer. Filigno started the final four matches, seeing action in five of the six. The forward scored the game winner against Great Britain in the quarterfinals.
Rutgers made its 11th-straight appearance in the conference tournament in 2010, a mark tied for the longest streak among conference members. For the third-consecutive year, the Scarlet Knights earned a bye to the quarterfinals, falling by a slim 1-0 margin to eventual champion West Virginia.
Despite losing five starters – including two captains – for a total of 82 games in 2009, Crooks led RU to its tenth-straight BIG EAST Tournament, earning a bye to the quarterfinals. Rutgers earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year, soundly defeating Duke, 2-0, in the first round. Rutgers season ended on a tough 1-0 loss to No. 8 South Carolina in the second round.
In 2009, the defensively gifted Scarlet Knights tied a record set in 1992 by allowing just 11 goals through 22 games. RU also broke the record for lowest goals against average with a 0.48 mark and got off to the best start in 13 years with a 4-0-1 record.
The 2008 campaign proved to be one of Crooks’ toughest as a head coach, as injuries and national team commitments put the opening-day roster at only 16 players. But Crooks and the rest of the coaching staff made sure that everyone stayed focused and committed, and that resulted in a 13-7-2 record, a bye in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament and a Sweet Sixteen berth in the NCAA Tournament.
After finishing the regular season with 12 victories, Crooks needed one more to pick up the 100th of his RU career. In the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Rutgers needed double-overtime but was able to pull out a 2-1 win against No. 20 Penn State, advancing to the second round. In their next game, RU took on the fifth-best scoring team in the nation, No. 7 Oklahoma State. The Scarlet Knights held the Cowgirls scoreless through two overtimes and the game went to penalty kicks. Rutgers made good on all four of its shots, while goalkeeper Erin Guthrie turned away one and OSU missed another, as the Scarlet Knights prevailed 4-2 and advanced to their first Sweet Sixteen since the 2001 season.
Rutgers traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on No. 5 Stanford. Although they held the fourth-best scoring team in the nation without a goal for most of the game, the Cardinal tallied with four minutes remaining in the match to win 1-0. Five Scarlet Knights earned postseason conference honors, the highest amount in RU history, and four Rutgers student-athletes were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-Mid-Atlantic Region first or second teams. Guthrie was named NSCAA Second Team All-American, the first honor for a Scarlet Knight since Carli Lloyd in 2003, and the highest postseason award since Saskia Webber took home First Team honors in 1992.
Not only were the present Scarlet Knights successful in 2008, but former Rutgers standout Carli Lloyd scored the game-winning goal for Team USA in its 1-0 gold medal victory over Brazil in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Lloyd was named US Soccer Female Athlete of the Year. Moreover, incoming freshman Jonelle Filigno saw action for the Canadian National Team in the Olympics in its 2-1 loss to Lloyd and the Americans.
In 2007, Crooks led the program to its eighth consecutive BIG EAST Championship despite seeing nine players miss a combined 66 games due to injuries. The squad finished the 2007 campaign 9-9-3, 4-5-2 in the BIG EAST, winning three of its last four games to clinch a berth in the conference tournament. In the first round game against St. John’s in Jamaica, Queens, RU battled the Red Storm to a scoreless tie before advancing on penalty kicks, winning 4-2. In the quarterfinal matchup, the Scarlet Knights fell to eventual runner-up Notre Dame 2-0 in South Bend, Ind.
In 2006, Crooks led the Scarlet?Knights to their first-ever appearance in the BIG EAST Championship Final. Rutgers fell to then No. 1 Notre Dame, 4-2. The two goals were the first for an opponent against the Irish in nearly a month.
The 2006 season was a record-breaking one for Rutgers, as they set a new school record for wins (16), shutouts (16) and conference victories (8), to turn in arguably RU’s most successful season in school history. The Scarlet Knights also finished the 2006 campaign ranked 11th by Soccerbuzz, the program’s highest-ever ranking.
RU posted an .833 winning percentage during the regular season, the highest of any Scarlet Knight squad in school history, and held opponents to just six goals prior to post-season play. It was the first time since 1996 that Rutgers won eight games on its home field.
In 2005, Rutgers compiled a 10-9-2 (.523) overall record and a 5-6 (.455) mark in the BIG EAST. RU reached the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship, playing to a 1-1 double-overtime draw at No. 14 Connecticut. On Sept. 20, Crooks recorded his 100th career victory, a 1-0 overtime defeat of Loyola (Md.) at Yurcak Field.
Crooks led Rutgers to a 10-7-5 (.568) overall record and a 3-2-1 (.583) mark in the BIG EAST Conference’s Mid-Atlantic Division in 2003. RU fell 2-1 in the quarterfinal round of the BIG EAST Championship to No. 20 Boston College, but the Scarlet Knights’ season was not over, as Rutgers received its third-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Championship. RU tied Maryland 1-1 in the first-round match at Penn State, and advanced to the second round on penalty kicks (4-3). Rutgers then faced the No. 6 Nittany Lions in the next round, losing 3-1 to the eventual College Cup quarterfinalists.
In 2002, Rutgers posted a 10-8-2 (.550) overall record and a 3-2-1 (.583) mark in the BIG EAST’s Mid-Atlantic Division. RU earned its first-ever BIG EAST Championship win with a 4-3 upset in the quarterfinals at Miami, then narrowly missed a trip to the final with a 3-2 loss to No. 8 West Virginia in the semifinals.
In his second season, Crooks led Rutgers to one of its best seasons in school history, finishing with a 14-8-1 (.630) overall record and a 4-1-1 (.750) mark in the BIG EAST Conference’s Mid-Atlantic Division to tie for second place.
The Scarlet Knights earned their second-ever invitation to the NCAA Tournament, defeating Boston?University (4-1) and No. 22 Princeton (1-0) to advance to the Round of 16. RU held a 1-0 lead for most of its third-round match, but lost to eventual national runner-up North Carolina 2-1. For his efforts, Crooks was named the Soccerbuzz Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year.
Rutgers ended the 2001 season ranked 14th by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, 17th by Collegesoccer.com and 18th by Soccerbuzz in the national polls.
During his first season?“On the Banks,” RU posted a 9-9-2 (.500) record and a 3-2-1 (.583) mark against BIG EAST Mid-Atlantic Division teams to finish second behind national semifinalist Notre Dame. The Scarlet Knights reached the .500 winning-percentage plateau for the first time in four years and qualified for the 2000 BIG EAST Championship, falling to Syracuse in the quarterfinal round.
Crooks arrived at Rutgers with a wealth of experience, having been successful at both the high school and collegiate levels. He maintains a close relationship with the New Jersey scholastic scene, having also worked extensively on the Olympic Development Program (ODP) staffs in both Eastern New York and New Jersey. Most recently, Crooks led the led the New Jersey ODP U-15 team to the 2007 US Youth Soccer ODP National Championship, the 1985 Girls Team to a runner-up finish at the 2003 ODP National Championships, the state’s 1986 Girls Team to a third-place finish at the 2004 Championships and the 1988 Girls to the 2005 regional semifinals.
His local ties have helped Crooks attract some of the top recruiting classes in the country, one of the reasons for RU’s recent success. The 2001 group, highlighted by BIG EAST Rookie of the Year Carli Lloyd, was rated 25th in the nation by Soccerbuzz, the 2002 class was rated 21st nationally, the 2003 group was picked 32nd and the 2006 freshmen were rated 16th by the same group.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Crooks spent three seasons at Long Island University. The first-ever coach of the Blackbirds, he started and developed the Long Island program from the ground up.
In just its third season, LIU posted an 11-9-2 (.545) record in 1999, winning the Northeast Conference Tournament title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Blackbirds also were one of the most successful programs in the nation academically, ranking third in overall team GPA among Division I schools in 1999 and fourth in 1998.
Crooks was well prepared for his construction project at Long Island by his experiences at Saint Peter’s, a program he started in 1993. In four seasons he compiled a 26-21-4 (.549) record, earned the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s (MAAC) 1994 Coach-of-the-Year Award and guided the Peahens to the 1996 MAAC Tournament crown.
He began his career at his alma mater, Ridge High School, where he started the women’s soccer program in 1983. In 10 seasons Crooks posted a 140-39-8 (.770) record, winning two state championships.
Crooks graduated from the University of Georgia in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Interpersonal Communications. He resides in East Brunswick with his wife, Mary Chayko, and their children, Ryan and Morgan.
