Rutgers women’s hoops will ‘turn around’ quickly under Gary Redus: 4 takeaways from his introduction
· Yahoo Sports
As Gary Redus stood at a podium on a makeshift stage on the practice court where he will soon lead as the head women’s basketball coach at Rutgers, reminders of the heights this once-proud program reached were all around him.
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Over his right shoulder hung banners honoring Thereza Grentz and C. Vivian Stringer, the two Hall of Fame coaches who built the Scarlet Knights into the national brand Redus “grew up on” as a kid. To his left, the dozens of conference titles the duo won and NCAA Tournament appearances they reached — including two Final Fours and a national championship game — are marked by the year, with just three in the past decade. In front of him were signs for each the 26 alums who went on to play in the WNBA.
Well aware of the past he is representing and the future he hopes to build, Redus did not mince words about what he expects from himself as the program’s fourth head coach.
“We know that we have work to do, and I can’t wait to get started,” Redus said Tuesday morning. “Get your season tickets now, because soon, there won’t be a lot of them available. We’re going to turn it around, and we’re going to do it quick. Everyone wants to support a winner, and we plan on doing just that. The love and support our family has received has truly been overwhelming. I don’t take it for granted, and I promise to make you all proud.”
Here are four takeaways from what Redus and athletic director Keli Zinn said during his introduction:
No head coaching experience? No problem
Redus is the first head coach in program history to take over without any previous head coaching experience. But that did not give Zinn any pause when considering Redus, who she watched closely during their time together at LSU.
“You can look at the history of college sports all across the country: Sometimes people make a hire with someone who was a previous head coach and it doesn’t work out, and other times they take a chance on an assistant and you recognize then that that was their first big step towards being one of the greatest out there,” Zinn said. “I have full belief and confidence in him. You’re seeing a little bit here today as to why that’s the case. The biggest thing for me was in that very first conversation, it was so abundantly clear that he had prepared for this. He knew exactly what he was seeking to achieve, how he was going to get there, and he wanted this job.”
Redus said he wants to bring “some experience” on his coaching staff, but more importantly, he wants to add “some people that I trust.”
“I want to bring in some people who I feel can help me do the job and do the task at hand and be successful,” he said.
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey revealed at least one addition, announcing Sunday that fellow Tigers assistant Daphne Mitchell will join Redus in Piscataway. He jokingly hoped that his former boss “doesn’t do any more interviews in the near future” before later revealing that he hopes the rest of the staff will be announced “real soon.”
Tennessee assistant Roman Tubner, who played college basketball with Redus at Marion Military Institute and Centenary, and his sister Manisha, who served as an assistant coach at Florida Atlantic last season and was a head coach at the Division II level for seven years, are leading candidates to join Redus’ staff, a person with knowledge of the situation told NJ.com.
How competitive will Rutgers be NIL-wise?
As the architect of multiple top-five recruiting classes at LSU, where there are some of the top resources in the sport, Redus and Zinn understand what it takes to succeed at a high level.
How will the resources he gets at Rutgers compare?
“Really competitive,” Redus said.
“I honestly wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t that alignment,” Redus said. “(Zinn is) committed to winning at Rutgers in everything. She’s very competitive. President Tate is very competitive. They expect winners. I think that they’re going to put me in the position to win. Now it’s up to me to do it.”
What will next year’s team look like?
Redus wants to “play fast,” “space the floor” and have plenty of “ball movement.” He doesn’t want to run “set after set after set,” but instead get “really good players” and “give them space and let them be the really good players that they are.”
To do that, he will have to recruit at a high level and build out a talented team, which will be one of his top priorities over the next month: “You can’t start doing that too soon.”
Redus offered a handful of high school players in his first week, saw the Scarlet Knights’ lone commit in the 2026 class wind up signing with West Virginia on Tuesday, plans to work out the current players on the roster soon and will have his eyes on the transfer portal in the coming weeks leading up to its opening in early April.
“I’m already recruiting high school kids, so it’s really just kind of getting the high school kids used to me. And then in the next month, the portal will be open, so it’ll be portal, portal, portal really soon,” Redus said. “I think, over the next month, is preparing the roster for the next year.”
What are expectations for next year?
Redus set a high bar in saying that the program will “turn around quickly.” What does that mean for expectations in his first season on the job?
“The expectation for year one is that it looks very different,” Zinn said. “I’m hopeful that we start seeing those things come together here very soon and I’m excited for the future of this program.”
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