Rutigliano: A Man with aMission

For thosewhohave followedthe trek ofLiberty University's football programforanyamountoftimeatall, the story of Sam Rutigliano and his burst onto the Candlers Mountain sceneisfamiliar.Forthosewho have watched professional football over the years, this account ofa former NFL coach joining a Division 1-AA footballprogram is unique.

Thisstorybeganwhen Rutigliano spoke ataLiberty University chapel serviceback inthefall of1988. After beingsoughtoutby ChancellorJerry Falwell for the head coachingjob, Rutigliano finally accepted and was officially named head coach during the third week ofDecember. Subsequently, Rutigliano led a talented team through a formidable 1989 schedule that included nationally ranked Division1-AAsquadsaswell as a touted Division 1-A team.

Rutigliano's team, besieged bynational exposure due to their newfound coach, gained theirownattentionby cracking the top twenty poll forthreeweeks and finishing7-3, on theverge ofthe playoffs.

Rutigliano hadalways known he wanted toteach agame. Ever since hisboyhood days inBrooklyn when he went tothesame Catholic church and grew up with Vince Lombardi and Joe Paterno-two ofthe greatest coaches in football history-he seemed destined to lead. Sure enough,atage 23, Rutigliano started hislongcareerofcoachingasthehead man at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn,New York.Hewould eventuallymove up asanassistantinthe collegiateranks andonto the professionallevelashead coach forsixand one half years with the Cleveland Browns.

However, there is a chapter in Rutigliano's lifewhich helps unfold hispurposeinlife,achapterthatisnot often read by those who seeRutiglianoasjustacoach.As hesharesinhis book, Pressure, thisstorystarts with the inquisitions ofyoung daughter, Nancy. She would questionwhy the family failed to attend church together. Rutigliano knew the barriers thatexistedbetweenthebeliefsofhim and his wife, but answers tohis daughter'squestionswerevagueand empty. Rutigliano knew that those questions must be satisfied. Butthat chance never came,for it waswhile driving with hiswife and four-and one-half-years-old little Nancy to a summer camp inMaine, thatRutiglianofellasleepatthewheel. Theircar flipped over, sparing Rutigliano and his wife,Barb,buttragically killing theirdaughter. Itwasatthispointthat Rutigliano questioned how life would goonfilledwith suchanxiety, guilt, and despair. Hopelessness, heartache, and thequestion "why" overwhelmed him. But then,just before he left the funeral service to bury his little girl, a couple told hi m and his wife about the person of Jesus Christ. A husband an d wife, wh o ha d just lost their eight-year-old son in a drowning accident a few years earlier, explained ho w Christ filled all voids and eased all pain. Rutigliano and Barb accepted Christ before they buried their daughter, Nancy, an d as Rutigliano emphatically states, his life has never been the same.

Since that day back in August of 1962, Rutigliano has found a ne w purpose, a ne w mission. His desire is to honor, glorify and please that person wh o changed his life while influencing others to d o the same. Comin g to coach football at Liberty University has certainly given hi m the opportunity to d o this, to fulfill a mission. This is the real story behind Sa m Rutigliano.