The ties between Bill Belichick and Greg Schiano are well-documented.

Initially at Rutgers from 2001-11, Schiano coached the longtime New England Patriots head coach's son Stephen Belichick, who was a long snapper for the Scarlet Knights in 2011.

Bill Belichick has ended up coaching Schiano products such as former Rutgers players Devin and Jason McCourty, Duron Harmon, Logan Ryan and Mohamed Sanu throughout the past decade.

Through the years, Schiano became head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2012-13) and was most recently Ohio State's defensive coordinator (2016-18) under former Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer (2012-18) before taking the 2019 season off.

Schiano's decision to step away from coaching came fewer than two months into his stint as New England's defensive coordinator, joining Belichick's staff Feb. 6 and leaving March 28 for personal reasons.

Back at Rutgers as head coach for the second time, Schiano was reintroduced Wednesday and thanked Belichick, whom he called "a true friend" during the question-and-answer portion of his press conference.

Belichick returned the favor Friday when asked about Rutgers rehiring Schiano.

"I'm happy for him," Belichick said. "Absolutely. He's a great coach. I'm sure he'll do a great job with that program, like he did before.

"I can't imagine anybody being better for the job than him."

The Rutgers Board of Governors approved Schiano, 53, Tuesday for an eight-year contract worth $32 million.

The Wyckoff, New Jersey, native and Ramapo (N.J.) High product returns to his former program with the current team needing a colossal rebuild.

In the Big Ten East with annual games against the likes of powerhouses such as Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan, Schiano has his work cut out for him as he rebuilds Rutgers once again.

“He’s going to recruit better than anyone in New Jersey,” Meyer said. “He’s from New Jersey. He loves the Bergen County mafia. I love those guys, too. Such good football. Such good players. He’s got to get some of those guys. That’s as good of high-school football as there is in the country. That Bergen Catholic, St. Joe’s and all of the great schools up there. Greg knows all of those people, but he’s got to land a few of them. That’s the only shot they have. You can talk about everything else."

Schiano went 68-67 overall and 28-48 in Big East play with Rutgers the first 11 years last decade, but those numbers are deceiving.

He took over one of college football's worst programs and, after experiencing four straight losing seasons from 2001-04 as Rutgers went 12-34 (3-24 Big East), broke through with his five straight bowl appearances.

In Schiano's final seven seasons at Rutgers from 2005-11, he was 56-33 (25-24 Big East) and won 5 of 6 bowl games.

"The last eight years, I followed Rutgers — that was my team," Schiano said. "Now, I didn't let everybody know that. But whether I was coaching in the NFL, I checked the scores, I read the stories. I always wondered and wanted to know what's happening at Rutgers. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I got disappointed when things didn't go well. We need to adjust a few things because we do need to build this program to last. The State of New Jersey deserves that. Rutgers University deserves that. We're going to have to adjust some things, but it will be built to last. I promise you that."