Rutgers basketball appears to have found their new head mens basketball coach and it is not ESPN analyst Fran Frischilla or former Boston College coach Al Skinner.

Instead the Scarlet Knights will hire former Robert Morris head coach Mike Rice a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPNNEWYORK.com’s Karen Diercy. Rice went 73-31 in his three seasons at Robert Morris and guided the Colonials to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. You may remember that Rice’s 15th seeded Colonials took Villanova to overtime before eventually falling to the 2nd seeded Wildcats 73-70 in overtime.

Mike Rice may not be a household name but he is held in high regard in coaching circles, St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli thinks especially highly of Rice.

“I will be honest with you, I think he is going to excite the whole state," added Martelli, who was Rice's boss for two seasons. "I think that Rutgers will take its place -- it will take some building and patience -- but he is going to excite that fan base, the RAC and the basketball community that is New Jersey."

Rutgers has not made the NCAA Tournament since 1991 and is perceived as a “cellar dweller” in the Big East. Rice inherits an especially thin cupboard at Rutgers this season. The Scarlet Knights leading scorer junior Mike Rosario recently announced that he will transfer to Florida. In addition to that the Scarlet Knights also lose Hamady Ndiaye, Ndiaye was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year last season.

Mike Rice is known for his fiery toughness and strong defense was a staple of his teams at Robert Morris. His teams were among the best in the Northeast Conference when it came too field-goal percentage and scoring defense. There is not the kind of talent at Rutgers right now that would suggest that Mike Rice can immediately end the Scarlet Knights 19 year NCAA Tournament drought. Instead it will probably be a multi-year process that will involve Rice putting his stamp on the program and bringing in guys that fit the mold he wants to establish at Rutgers. I like the idea that Rice will put an emphasis on defense first though rather than offense in his attempt to revive Rutgers.

It would be easy to dismiss Rutgers as a “graveyard job” because of their lack of success over the last 20 seasons. I know from watching Mike Rice’s attitude and demeanor during the Villanova game that he will do everything he can to make Rutgers a basketball power. Anyone who is going to lift Rutgers out of basketball mediocrity needs to have a fire about him and Mike Rice has that. Fred Hill did his best while at Rutgers but it was time for a change and the former Robert Morris coach might just be the change Rutgers needed.