Everyone knows the one word that guides my life: Believe.

I know that the Rutgers community is hurting right now over what happened with Greg Schiano this week, but I still believe that he will walk onto that football field next year as our head coach. I believe that people will come to their senses and make that happen after our reunion with Coach got derailed for reasons none of us can understand.

Look, I’ll admit, the last few days have been rough. For the first time in my life, I questioned my commitment to Rutgers athletics. It hurts to even write that given the relationships I have built and the many wonderful people working behind the scenes, but I was absolutely distraught about the university I broke my neck playing football for nine years ago.

It is awful how Coach Schiano has been treated. That’s why I took this opportunity to write this piece and share my thoughts. It would be one thing if Rutgers decided to go in another direction, but to question his commitment to the job and his work ethic? To make up lies about his contract demands? To try to muddy the reputation of the man who did so much not just for our team or the university but the whole state?

I have talked to Coach. I know his commitment. I know the plan of action he had to repair the current team. I know how big this job will be. We talked about the players he wanted to bring here and the plans he had for rebuilding this program. He even had his recruiting schedule for the rest of the month mapped out when he got the job!

Just listening to him brought my hopes up about the future, and let’s face it, there isn’t much hope in the football program right now. Hope is the only thing that Rutgers has to sell now, and Coach Schiano is the one person that I believe is the best candidate to deliver that message around the state of New Jersey. And his message of hope is one everyone needs to hear – our fans, our players, recruits, students, the great people who work at the university and certainly the generous donors who make our membership in the Big Ten Conference possible.

People know my story. I don’t have to go into a lot of detail again. I came to Rutgers a boy and Coach Schiano turned me into a man. And he did that before my injury. I love him and the lessons that I learned playing from him. He was there every night when I was lying in that hospital, sitting bedside, reassuring me that everything would be okay.

Coach is the one who first helped me to “Believe” as I started my long recovery. And I still believe we can get him back here.

I talked to athletic director Pat Hobbs about him several weeks ago. I explained to him who Coach Schiano was as a man and what he was like to me as a player. Hobbs wanted to know if I thought he could adapt to the players of today, and I reminded him that this was a man who was hired by two of the best championship-winning coaches in the business -- Urban Meyer and Bill Belichick -- which is all you need to know.

I’m still stunned by how this all played out, and the lies about him this week. To hear our former governor, Chris Christie, telling people that he wanted a private jet for personal use? That isn’t true. He wasn’t trying to get that so he could kick his feet up and lounge around. He has high school football contacts around the country now. He wanted that jet so he could recruit better players!

Rutgers has to get back to the negotiating table with him. I know he’s still willing to take less to get this deal done. If it was him saying “no, no, no,” I would understand that Rutgers needed to move on. But I know him better than anyone, and I know how badly he wants to work this out and get back to work here. I know how many hours he’s spent preparing to come home.

If it doesn’t work out, well, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m having a hard time envisioning myself back at football games. But, on this Thanksgiving, I’m still going to be thankful that he is my Coach -- and I’m still going to believe that he’ll be coach for the next generation of Rutgers players, too.

Rutgers honored me at halftime last weekend. I said this on the field and I’ll say it again: “Board of Governors, you STILL know what you need to do!”

Eric LeGrand is a former Rutgers football player and a prominent fundraiser for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. His No. 52 is the university’s only retired number.