FOXBORO, Mass. -- The McCourty twins were enjoying their 11th straight victory with the New England Patriots, a ho-hum 35-14 thumping of the Giants at Gillette Stadium, when a visitor from New Jersey steered their locker-room banter toward a less cheery topic.

That topic is their alma mater’s coaching search. They might be in the midst of the all-consuming process of defending another Super Bowl title in New England, but Jason and Devin McCourty have followed the news coming out of Rutgers from afar.

And they don’t like it.

“I heard they’re doing anything and everything opposite of Greg (Schiano)," Jason McCourty told NJ Advance Media. "Which is kind of funny, because he’s the guy who’s had the most success there. To dismiss it so fast is just like, well, it should at least be a thought.”

Two locker stalls away, Devin McCourty looked up from his stool and -- in typical fashion with these identical but still very different brothers -- summed up his opinion on the topic in far fewer words:

“They need to offer Schiano all the money they got.”

So add the most prominent Scarlet Knights in the NFL to the growing list of people who think the Schiano-Rutgers reunion makes too much sense to ignore. This is no surprise, of course. The two players have been singing their former head coach’s praises from the moment they joined the NFL.

Why would it be any different now?

“It would be cool to see Greg back,” Jason McCourty said. "He got it going before. I don’t see why he can’t do it again. It’s an easier sell now than it was back then when he took over. Big Ten. Better facilities. But the Jersey roots are big.

“I just remember how solid the recruiting was back when I was coming out of high school. He really sold us on being the first to make history. And that history is still out there for them. Being in the Big Ten, we haven’t done anything.”

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I asked what his message would be to athletic director Patrick Hobbs, the one leading the search for the coach to replace Chris Ash. This time, now standing in front that stool a few feet away, Devin McCourty interrupted again.

“I just told you!” he said. “Offer Schiano as much money as they can.”

A few locker stalls in the other direction, the third Rutgers player in this dominant New England secondary -- just ask Giants quarterback Daniel Jones how good it is -- took a more measured approach to the issue.

It is remarkable that nine years after Schiano bolted for the NFL, several of his players are still collecting the massive paychecks in a league where longevity is rare. Duron Harmon, that third Pat from Piscataway on this 6-0 team, credits his former coach for preparing him for this life as a pro.

“I’m all for Coach Schiano,” said Harmon, who had an interception against the Giants. “He recruited me for Rutgers. He’s a great leader. He helped prepare me to play in the NFL. If he wants the job and they’re willing to give him a chance, I think he’s the perfect candidate to lead Rutgers back.”

None of the three Patriots have talked to Schiano recently or reached out to Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs to voice their opinions. One former Rutgers player, however, is working to make sure the football alumni are heard.

Ryan Hart, the quarterback on Schiano’s first bowl team in 2005, said that group of football alumni “incredibly eager to get in front of (Hobbs) and voice our opinions” before, as many expect, the search moves along without the former coach. It is unclear if or when that will happen, but they deserve to at least have a voice in the process.

All the former players agree on this: Something dramatic has to happen. The program they helped build into a perennial bowl team that occasionally flashed in the AP top 25 is unrecognizable as it careens toward another one- or two-win season.

“I watch the games, and when they pan the stadium, it’s just like, my goodness,” Jason McCourty said. “There’s just nobody at the games, you know? It’s rough. They’re in a phase right now where it’s just not where they want it to be.”

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McCourty makes it back to Piscataway occasionally now -- the brothers delivered a commencement speech at the 2019 graduation -- and said he developed a good relationship with Ash while he was head coach. Schiano’s return, however, would be likely to spur him -- and other former players -- to become far more involved in the program they helped build.

“For me, life is about relationships,” Jason McCourty said. I still go back, but not as much as I probably used to -- just for the fact you don’t know anybody there. Now, 11 years later, it’s totally wiped clean. If you have familiar faces there, a lot of guys already go back, but it would be more.

“We’ll see what happens," he said. "It doesn’t sound like it, but we’ll see.”

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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.