Former almost Vols head coach Greg Schiano gets blasted by rival Big 10 assistant
If not for thousands of Tennessee Vols fans who made their voices heard in late 2017, Greg Schiano would have spent a couple of seasons as UT's head coach before experiencing a hasty exit from the SEC. Former Vols athletic director John Currie attempted to hire Schiano in 2017 to replace Butch Jones as Tennessee's […]
If not for thousands of Tennessee Vols fans who made their voices heard in late 2017, Greg Schiano would have spent a couple of seasons as UT's head coach before experiencing a hasty exit from the SEC.
Former Vols athletic director John Currie attempted to hire Schiano in 2017 to replace Butch Jones as Tennessee's head coach.
A fan revolt, however, prevented the hire from ever happening. And Schiano, who was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State at the time, eventually returned to Rutgers for his second stint as the Scarlet Knights' head coach.
Schiano's first stint at Rutgers was moderately successful. The New Jersey native went 68-67 from 2001 to 2011 (including an 11-win season in 2006). Schiano's second stint hasn't been quite as fruitful.
Rutgers is 12-22 since Schiano took over ahead of the 2020 season. And folks in the Big 10 aren't confident that things will turn around anytime soon.
A rival Big 10 assistant coach recently spoke to Athlon Sports about Schiano and he said the "word is out" that it's a "highly stressful environment" at Rutgers these days.
From Athlon Sports (via NJ.com): “Whatever buzz Greg (Schiano) had going by coming back, it’s pretty much gone. He’s turned over a significant amount of staff, and word is out that it’s a highly stressful environment. They had two quarterbacks play poorly last year, and they changed the coaches but didn’t portal any new QBs. That tells you something. There’s building pressure for them to get it right and ‘back,’ but that’s not possible. The guys who hired him back think they can have those Big East seasons again. … The OC hire (Kirk Ciarrocca) is a really solid pick: he got thrown under the bus by (James) Franklin at Penn State during the COVID year, but he’s a solid play caller and a good QB developer. … Defensively, they’re running the same stuff Greg did in Columbus; they’re just not executing with that talent level. … The schools seems committed to him long-term, but they haven’t made any kind of real step up to being a Big Ten-level program under him.”
I don't think there's any doubt that Tennessee is fortunate that the Schiano hire didn't happen. Though to be fair, it's not like Schiano could've done much worse than Jeremy Pruitt at Tennessee. Pruitt, the coach that was hired by UT after the Schiano hire fell apart, led the Vols to a 16-19 record in three seasons and was fired after getting the program embroiled in an NCAA recruiting scandal.
Fortunately for the Vols, the program is in a much better place under current head coach Josh Heupel. The anonymous comments about Schiano, however, are a reminder of what a massive mistake Currie almost made in late 2017.
Featured image via Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
