Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano, who says he was more than a coach to some of the Rutgers players, feels a sense of pride when talking about the Scarlet Knights

(Photo by Kim Klement/US PRESSWIRE)

ORLANDO, Fla. – He watched everything unravel from his new home in Tampa, Fla., yelling at the television that November night with his wife and kids just like any other frustrated Rutgers fan.

Greg Schiano is more than that, of course. He built this program. He recruited these players. He understood better than anyone what one more victory over Louisville would have meant.

The major bowl. The next step. The validation.

And what it meant when that final pass from Gary Nova fluttered into the hands of a diving defender …

All of it, gone.

"I really thought — we were playing well and we were up 14-3, and I really felt really good going into halftime," Schiano said over the phone yesterday.

This is clear from the beginning of any conversation with the former coach: Whether 11 months or 11 years pass since he's left Piscataway, Rutgers will always be we and not a they to him.

"If that (fake field goal) doesn’t get overturned, forget it," he said. "That game is over."

It did get overturned on a petty illegal man downfield penalty, a moment that will go down in history with the other near misses for this program. The Scarlet Knights have had far too many of them, too many trips to games like the Russell Athletic Bowl tonight when something bigger — this time, the Sugar Bowl and No. 3 Florida — was so close.

Schiano is gone, dealing with new crises as Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach. But the time away didn’t make the Louisville loss any easier. He is still too invested in the program not to have suffered from afar.

"I feel their pain," he said. "They’re still my kids. I was a lot more than just a coach to those kids, you know?"

So Schiano understands the opportunity lost. Still: He never stopped preaching patience in his 11 years in Piscataway, and he isn’t stopping now. He hopes fans eventually step back and remember the good — a share of the Big East title, a trip to the biggest bowl game in school history, the long-coveted invitation to the Big Ten — and measure it with the bad.

Maybe it takes suffering through a 10-loss season not to take a potential 10-win season for granted. Schiano wasn’t about to blow off a bowl game in his backyard. He brought so many people with him from Tampa, they decided to rent a bus to make the trip to the game today.

Almost 35 members of the Bucs staff and their families will travel to the Citrus Bowl to see the Scarlet Knights play Virginia Tech. Schiano was starting out when the Hokies were a Big East powerhouse that embarrassed his struggling program year after year.

Now, the game is a Vegas tossup (6-6 Virginia Tech is favored by two points), with the Scarlet Knights ready to bolt out of the Big East for a better home — better, even, than where the Hokies ended up.

Schiano only issued a statement on the Big Ten move when the news broke before Thanksgiving, not wanting it to look like he was trying to steal the moment. But yesterday, he talked at length for the first time about what the new address might mean for this program.

"As you know, this wasn’t a two- or three-month deal," he said when asked if he was involved in the move. "I’ve been well aware of (the talks) since a long time ago.

"It’s a great deal for Rutgers. Certainly, just the prestige of competing in the greatest college sports conference in the country is part of it, but academically, too. From a recruiting standpoint, it’ll only get better and better, and competitively, there’s a lot of excitement that’ll come from facing those teams on a regular basis."

As for the critics who believe Rutgers will never catch up to the elite programs such as Ohio State or Michigan, Schiano answered: "My question is why? Why would you think that? Why not?"

He had hoped the move might have happened several years ago, when Nebraska joined the Big Ten and the shifting landscape in college athletics suddenly stabilized. When asked if that invitation would have kept him from bolting to the NFL, Schiano wasn’t looking back.

"I’ve never lived in the hypothetical and I’m not going to start now," he said. "I’m thrilled with the opportunity I have here and I love what I’m doing."

His first year hasn’t been an easy one. The Bucs briefly turned around a difficult start to get into playoff contention at 6-4, but then lost five straight. Schiano has had to deal with several controversies, from his decision to attack on the end-of-game kneel downs (and refusal to back off that position) to an incident between an assistant coach and a player on the sidelines.

He chalks a lot of the struggles up to the growing pains that come with trying to build something. The NFL is too unpredictable to know if Tampa can rebound next season, or if Schiano was better off staying with a lifetime of job security in the college program he built in New Jersey.

Either way, he’ll stay a part of it. He’ll watch his old team from a suite in the Citrus Bowl, celebrating and suffering like a fan with every play. No matter how much time passes, Rutgers will never be they for Schiano. Always we.

Steve Politi: spoliti@starledger.com; twitter.com/StevePoliti