Rutgers University is going back to an old face in attempt to bring the football team back to relevance in 2020. The is set to hire former head coach Greg Schiano, according to Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel. The deal is reportedly an eight-year contract worth $32 million.
The two sides have been discussing the job for nearly three weeks based on a previous report from Thamel. He reported issues in negotiating spending by the school on the program. Thamel reported the school was willing to increase spending, but not to levels Schiano wanted. It would appear they came to terms.
Schiano coached the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from 2001 to 2011. In that time, he turned the team from a 2-9 doormat into a consistent bowl team for the first time in school history. He was 68-67 for his career there with bowl appearances in six of his final seven seasons. The team won five of those bowl games and made their way into the Big Ten following his departure.
The team went to three straight bowl games under Schiano’s replacement, Kyle Flood, but has gone 13-47 in the five years since.
Schiano departed Rutgers to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In two seasons his teams went 11-21 before he and general manager Mark Dominick were fired. He spent seasons coaching high school football before joining Urban Meyer’s coaching staff at Ohio State. He spent three seasons as defensive coordinator. He was briefly hired this past spring as an assistant with the New England Patriots before resigning.