One of the Winningest Coaches in Rutgers Women’s Soccer Turned Radio Commentator Prepares to Cover FIFA World Cup

Glenn Crooks, who wrote two books about the games he loves, is working with SiriusXM FC and Fox 5 to broadcast from the tournament

Glenn Crooks, the former highly-successful head coach of the Rutgers women's soccer team, who recruited and coached two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, World Cup champion and Gold medalist, Carli Lloyd, has spent the past 11 years as a nationally prominent soccer commentator.

Spurred on by his wife Mary Chayko, a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Communication and Information and Director of Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies at Rutgers (their two children, Ryan and Morgan are both Rutgers graduates) and author of several books, Glenn Crooks has recently himself turned author.

An institution in New Jersey soccer for the past half century, Crooks, whose name carries weight in soccer circles both nationally and internationally, is now sharing many of his insights in the first two volumes of what will be a three-part series. His first book, Put it on Frame: Stories and Strategies from Top Soccer Coaches and Experts - The Crooks Conversations Volume Iwas published in November. His second volume, Put It On Frame 2, with a special chapter featuring players and coaches who have participated in the World Cup, is set for publication in mid-May.

Crooks shares a plethora of stories, gleaned primarily from interviews he conducted with soccer subjects in his role over for more than a decade as host of his own show, "The Coaching Academy," which airs weekly on SiriusXM FC. Crooks wears many broadcasting hats, including serving as color analyst on Big 10 Network broadcasts of Rutgers home men's and women's soccer teams.

He wrote both books as he prepares for his next milestone. He will be working with SiriusXM FC and Fox 5 to cover the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup matches at MetLife Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field this summer. The soccer veteran also covered the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

A Storied Rutgers Career

During his time at Rutgers, Glenn Crooks built the program into a consistent national contender.

From 2000 to 2013, Crooks spent 14 seasons as head coach of the RU women's soccer team, building the program into a consistent national contender. Over his tenure, he compiled a record of 155-103-36 (.588) and led the Scarlet Knights to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, including two trips to the Sweet 16. His most successful season came in 2006, when Rutgers set school records with 16 wins and 16 shutouts while earning eight conference victories.

In his final season in 2013, Crooks guided the team to a 13-4-5 record and an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. He retired in July 2014 as the all-time winningest coach in Rutgers women's soccer history at the time, leaving a lasting mark on the program's growth and success.

With a career coaching mark of 200-158-45 in 21 seasons overall (which include stints where he established programs at both LIU and Saint Peter's), Crooks was succeeded by his longtime associate head coach Mike O'Neill, who has built on Crooks' success and recently surpassed his record as winningest coach.

Crooks has never lacked for conversations. After more than 50 years immersed in soccer as a coach, educator, and broadcaster, the challenge now isn't finding compelling voices-it's deciding which ones make the cut. Each of the three books in the series will be drawn from the more than 1,200 interviews he has conducted since launching his radio show in 2016.
"I'm actually working on Volume II of the book right now," Crooks said with a laugh. "I've got two more volumes to go. I've got so many interviews I'm trying to fit in. I know I'm not going to get them all in, but I just couldn't do it justice without writing a few more."

He said there will plenty of Rutgers mentions in his upcoming books, including alumnus Alexi Lalas, a standout player on the United States national team in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He plans to release the second volume before the World Cup.

The books are published through Life Sized Publishing, a young company that discovered Crooks via LinkedIn and available exclusively available on Amazon. The publishing partnership provided structure and support he knew he needed. "They created a website for me, they made my LinkedIn page a lot more presentable, and they provide me with an editor," he explained. While it required an upfront investment, Crooks viewed it as worthwhile.

Rutgers' Influence

Glenn Crooks interviewing two-time FIFA World Player of the Year and World Cup champion Carli Lloyd

Rutgers looms large throughout Crooks' life and work, and its influence runs through the book as well. His years with the Scarlet Knights shaped not only how he sees the game, but how he talks about it. "My years at Rutgers played a massive role in this," he said. "There was a lot going on-not just with the team, but in my education. Now I'm a broadcaster, and I see the game and can talk to people about it based on my experience as a coach."

Many of the interviews in the book originally existed only in the moment-live radio conversations that, for years, disappeared once they aired. That realization sparked the idea for the book. "All of the interviews I do, it's like they're gone," said Crooks who was able to obtain the transcripts that become the basis for his series. "They were recorded, but they were done live.''

One day Mary said, 'Why don't you bring them to life in a book?'" Almost immediately after that conversation, Lifesize Publishing reached out. "There was some kismet right there," he said. "So I had to do it."

The book reads like a potpourri of top soccer coaches and experts in the game and Rutgers connections appear throughout the series, beginning with Crooks' coaching legacy. One of his fondest memories was hiring O'Neill as associate head coach.

"The two of us together were a very good team," Crooks recalled. "We had spent a lifetime in New Jersey coaching the game."

That shared background helped Rutgers tap into one of the nation's strongest soccer hotbeds and recruit players like Carli Lloyd."

Crooks vividly remembers the home visit to Lloyd's house in Delran, back when elite recruits waited until late in their senior year to commit. "It was a different world back then," he said. Lloyd hadn't yet become a global icon, but her impact was immediate, helping elevate the program and later redefining American soccer on the world stage.

What Crooks treasures most, however, is not just wins or famous names, but the long arc of influence. Many of his former players remain involved in the game as coaches, scholars, and professionals. He speaks warmly of Rutgers alumni like Denise Reddy, whose Rutgers career from 1988-91 predated Crooks' tenure, is now a top assistant with the U.S. Women's National Team, and Zoe Avner, a former player turned college professor whose research on athlete transition and mental health became a recent interview subject.

Volume I also includes a Rutgers-focused chapter featuring Shawn Arent, then part of the university's exercise science department. Arent introduced the women's program to GPS tracking, heart-rate monitoring, and live calorimetry, which studies the scientific measurement of energy expenditure in athletes, used to determine caloric requirements and fine-tune training intensity. It basically quantifies the body's energy use both at rest and during exercise.

These are innovations that initially frustrated Crooks and O'Neill but ultimately transformed the program. "Shawn was basically telling us that you have to pull players out of training at certain points…it was all about injury mitigation, and he was right. We had a 70 percent reduction in soft-tissue injuries," Crooks said.

The collaboration not only benefited the team but also provided invaluable hands-on experience for Rutgers graduate students.

Some of his most meaningful moments remain deeply personal-like his first SiriusXM FC interview, a packed town-hall conversation with Lloyd shortly after her historic 2015 World Cup performance. "It's only been Pelé, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Carli Lloyd who've been interviewed in the bubble, an open space near the entrance to the SiriusXM studios on sixth avenue," Crooks said. "And I was the one who interviewed Carli."

A Leadership Book with New Territories for Future Volumes

Glenn Crooks with U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Emma Hayes, whose assistant is Rutgers alumna Denise Reddy

At its core, "Put it on Frame: The Crooks Conversations Volume I" is less about tactics and more about leadership, culture, and human connection. The book features voices from across sports and beyond, including James Kerr, author of Legacy, whose work with the legendary All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby union team, resonates far outside of that sport. "In these books people are gleaning leadership lessons," Crooks said. "Not just X's and O's."

Future volumes will expand into new territory-goalkeeping, technique, teaching, and education-while maintaining a format designed for modern readers. Chapters can be read in small portions, each ending with an "Extra Time" reflection, a soccer term. "That's the way people read these days," Crooks said. "It's different stories within each interview."

For Crooks, his satisfaction comes from preserving conversations that once vanished into the ether-and from continuing a lifelong dialogue with the game. "I grew up a lot as a person and as a coach during my time at Rutgers," he said. "This book is really a compilation of all these different ways people go about things. And I'm thrilled for how the next two will come out.

The foreword, fittingly, is written by U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer and New Jersey native Tony Meola-one more voice in a collection built on listening, learning, and letting stories live on.