Eddie Allen, the Man Behind “The Chop” Returns to Rutgers
The man who bought the ax that has become the symbol of Rutgers football the past 16 years is returning to Piscataway this fall.
Eddie Allen returns to coach Greg Schiano’s coaching staff this season as a special teams assistant after four years as special teams coordinator for UCONN from 2018-21.
Allen was a player development assistant from 2005-2006 and a graduate assistant in 2007 under Schiano during the head coach’s first stint at RU.
According to NJ.com, it was Allen who by request of Schiano after a heart-breaking 33-30 loss to Illinois to open the 2005 season, ran out and bought an ax and brought it back to the Hale Center in time for a team meeting. Schiano had that ax painted red, and turned that ax into a rallying cry that has stayed with the program ever since.
That 2005 squad would blow out Villanova 38-6 the following week, en route to a 7-5 campaign and a berth in the Insight Bowl — a game Rutgers lost 45-40 to Arizona State. That was only just the beginning. Keep Chopin’ took a whole new meaning the next year — in 2006 — when Rutgers went 11-2 and captured the nation’s attention with its gutsy comeback win over Louisville.
Rutgers gets ready to start choppin’ in 2022 against an old Big East foe, in Boston College on September 3.
Start the week off right 🪓 @shawuski | @ChristianDremel pic.twitter.com/q3yVqLVvzR
— Rutgers Football (@RFootball) July 11, 2022
