CLEVELAND -- Nick Suriano didn't win Rutgers' first individual NCAA championship in 15 years on Saturday night. But athletics director Pat Hobbs believes his appearance in the 125-pound national wrestling final is yet another sign the tide is changing for the Scarlet Knights across all sports.

"We keep showing everyone, and what I keep saying to everyone is, 'We're coming,'" Hobbs told NJ Advance Media after Suriano's 5-1 loss to Iowa's Spencer Lee at the NCAA Championships.

"This is a different Rutgers, and we're not going to lay down for anybody. We're going to be defined by grit and confidence as we go forward. Whether it's in men's basketball at Madison Square Garden, whether it's here in Cleveland or going on to Pittsburgh (the site of next year's national wrestling tournament), what we're doing across all of our sports."

Hobbs was at Quicken Loans Arena for Friday and Saturday's competition. He sat and spoke with Suriano and the Rutgers coaching staff for an extended period following Suriano's final bout.

The Scarlet Knights placed two All-Americans - Suriano and senior 133-pounder Scott DelVecchio, the 15th and 16th NCAA medal winners in program history. Suriano is Rutgers' first national finalist in program history. The Scarlet Knights also finished 11th in the team title race, their highest finish ever and a half-point outside the top-10.

"It's tremendous. The program has made another step this year," Hobbs said. "Obviously it didn't end the way Nick or we would want. But I told him some of the greatest champions have been defined by how they've come out of defeat. That will define him. He'll be back, he'll be stronger. He's already thinking about Pittsburgh. We'll keep building this program.

"We're a different Rutgers. We're going to keep coming, and we're going to keep challenging. We're going to be gritty and we're going to be Jersey."

James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.