Anthony Cioffi Commits to Rutgers

tends to be a friendly place. But this month, the mood at the Mountain Ave. deli has been positively ecstatic.

Anthony Cioffi, star athlete and son of the namesake deli’s owner, has accepted a full athletic scholarship to Rutgers while still a junior. And now it seems like all of Union County is stopping by to say congratulations.

On Thursday, Feb. 23, Anthony’s mother Josephine Cioffi brought a package of handwritten letters from the Rutgers coaching staff to the deli. Sitting near a newly installed Rutgers pennant, Cioffi patriarch Jerry Cioffi poured over the letters eagerly, touched by the personal touch of the notes. Josephine left Jerry with the letters. She called Anthony, busy with a lab from one of his Dayton classes, and encouraged him to come to the store for an interview with a .

Waiting for Anthony to make it to the deli, Jerry Cioffi rattled off the dozens of reasons the news brought him joy. His wife is a Rutgers alumna. His son would be only a half hour away. The early acceptance dials down the pressure to tour schools and weigh offers from different programs. But most importantly, he said, Rutgers was where his son has always wanted to be.

“I brought him to a game and he fell in love with the program,” Cioffi said.

The program evidently reciprocates that feeling. Rutgers Football Coach Kyle Flood told Anthony that the Dayton gridiron star would always be special to him; Cioffi is the first player Flood recruited as head coach of Rutgers.

When he arrived at the deli, the star Dayton athlete said he couldn’t be happier.

“It’s been my dream school,” Anthony Cioffi said. “It’s my number one choice since day one. It’s my home state and my family can come out to see me play.”

He said that he was surprised to have the offer come while was still a junior, but that it came as a “breath of fresh air” to have a school express such solid, unambiguous interest. He has a year of high school standing between him and suiting up as a Scarlet Knight. A solid student, Cioffi pledged to keep up his grades. He said that he would definitely join the Bulldogs on the football field as a senior, but that he wasn’t sure if he would continue with the basketball team. Jerry Cioffi, a seasoned youth football coach, waved off concerns about injuries.

“You’ve got to play hard in every game,” the elder Cioffi said. “You get injured when you don’t play hard.”

Anthony Cioffi said he hoped playing for Rutgers would be a vehicle for promoting Dayton and show that a small program like Dayton’s can produce superior athletes. His father, a longtime booster of the , concurred.

More customers came in to the deli to place food orders and offer congratulations. Anthony read the cards from the coaching staff at the counter while his father failed to contain his enthusiasm.

“You ask God for a loaf of bread and he gives you a turkey dinner,” Jerry Cioffi said.