By Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Kevin Conlin was a four-year member of the Rutgers football team in the late 1970s, contributing to the '76 undefeated team as a freshman, playing in the first bowl game in '78 and experiencing the memorable upset over Tennessee in '79.

Today, he's the president of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the state's largest health insurer.

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Rutgers football media guide, 1979

Conlin, 60, was back at Rutgers on Saturday, announcing a multi-year sponsorship that he hopes will bring Horizon and New Jersey's state university together in an effort to inspire fans to lead healthier and more active lives.

He says the lessons he learned as a Scarlet Knight, playing for the program's winningest coach, Frank Burns, motivated him as a business leader through the last four decades.

“I had a great deal of lessons that I learned and lived through as a Scarlet Knights football player: self discipline; commitment to something bigger than yourself,'' said Conlin, who recorded 39 tackles and two pass breakups as a senior. "Seeing some great leaders — Frank Burns being one of them — served as great life lessons.''

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Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Pat Hobbs acknowledged that Conlin's ties to Rutgers made the year-long negotiations go smoother. But the Rutgers Athletics Director also said it's no coincidence that New Jersey's largest health insurer and the state university's athletics program forged a community partnership that will bring healthier food options to fans on game-days and educate on the benefits of leading healthier lifestyles.

"(Conlin) sees the value with doing this with Rutgers University and our athletics program not just because of his time at Rutgers,'' Hobbs said, "but because as the largest health insurance in the state of New Jersey, where do you want to have a reach on a Saturday. Where better than (Rutgers') stadium?''

Hobbs spoke with NJ Advance Media following the Fan Appreciation Day to address a variety of topics, including his philosophy on football scheduling and what's a reasonable expectation for Chris Ash's team this fall:

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Rutgers and Horizon announce deal | It’ll have an impact on fans wanting food (or a health screening) at games this season. Here’s what the deal means: https://t.co/n7mumc5Dge #rutgers — Keith Sargeant (@KSargeantNJ) August 18, 2018

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What's a reasonable expectation for the Rutgers football program this season?

Hobbs: "Getting better. Every year you're trying to get better. I never have an expectation in terms of wins and losses. Football takes time. Football takes depth. We've really only had two recruiting classes under Coach Ash. I'm a big believer that you need to get four recruiting classes to come in.

"So my expectation is we’re going to get better and we are getting better. We’re bigger, faster, stronger. But we’re in the Big Ten East. It’s the most competitive division in any conference in the country.

"So I have high hopes, but I know we’re building to the future and I know in a couple of years we’re really going to shock some people with the brand of football that we’re bringing. And we may shock some people this year as well.''

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It seems like a lot of your future games being scheduled including Northeast teams like Boston College, Temple, Syracuse and Monmouth. What's your general philosophy when it comes to scheduling for football?

Hobbs: "That (Northeast scheduling) is intentional. Coach Ash thinks that that's helpful to building a program. These are programs that we compete against when we recruit. So at some point you have to go against those programs and you gotta make a statement about which program is building. That's going to tell the young folks who are deciding between these programs, 'Where do you want to spend the next four or five years of your life?'

"And then it’s fun. You get their fans here. Whether it’s Boston College or Syracuse, they're going to come down here. We hope we sell it out with Rutgers fans but we certainly welcome our opponent’s fans as well.''

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From a financial standpoint, does it help that Rutgers is getting a bit of a bargin -- at $375,000 -- compared with some of the other non-conference games you've scheduled?

Hobbs: "Yes, I mean, look: it's become so expensive to (schedule) some of these games. To be able to bring in Monmouth University at a very reasonable agreement certainly affects the budget.

"We talk about the budget all the time in our match towards 2021 and full membership of being in the Big Ten and our intention of being in the black as quickly as we can.

"Making sound decisions like this for our football program is part of that.''

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A lot of your things are about fan experiences. Is that a key part of this Horizon deal, the fact that it impacts the fans whether it's health screenings, or healthier food options, or general-awareness information on game-days?

Hobbs: "It is. You want folks to come on game day and feel like they're getting other things. When you get a free health screening, you don't necessarily expect that when you come to a football game, but it's pretty cool, right? It's a little bit of value added back to folks, and then you see we're starting to add some more healthy-food options inside the stadium.

"There will be other things as well. We would like to partner with more corporations and have more partnerships here in New Jersey, where on game-day folks come down and have a lot of outside-the-stadium fun before they come into the stadium.’’

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Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.