OT - Former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano to Penn State?

Submitted by MGoGrendel on

Kirk Herbstreit mentioned this morning that he thought former Tampa and Rutgers coach Greg Schiano may be headed to Penn State.  He cited the interest/buzz a few years back when there was discussion on JoePa's possible replacement.  He said the same buzz has picked up with O'Brien leaving and Schiano getting fired from Tampa.  I read an article that said: "Penn State athletic director Dave Joyner is "mulling" flying down to Tampa to lobby Schiano to take over at Penn State."

I found this from NJ.com: http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2014/01/nfl_coaching_changes_door_is_open_for_greg_schiano_at_penn_state.html

However, given the reports about rabid PSU fans not giving O'Brien support (see post below), Schiano may have similar difficulties.  From the linked article:

"Schiano appears unpopular among some Penn State fans, who took to Twitter to complain when his name first surfaced."

 

With the talk on this blog about getting good coaches who recruit well into the B1G, I think Schiano would be a good pick.  He recruited very well in that region for over a decade.  What say you?

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Swayze Howell Sheen

January 1st, 2014 at 6:12 PM ^

I wish they would hurry up and offer. Thanks for asking, Yeoman.

Some positives about me:

- Seriously love penn state, kind of

- Always wanted an ice cream named after me (http://creamery.psu.edu/)

- Hate child molestation (mention this at the presser?)

- Still wishing i had taken that michigan offer - this is a close second.

- Currently out of work (have they heard?)

- Have anger management issues but I think that is now ok in college football...?

- Smart haircut indicates no-nonsense approach to football

 

Joined: 10/05/2008

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LSAClassOf2000

January 1st, 2014 at 6:16 PM ^

Oddly enough, there was some buzz on NFL.com the other day that Penn State AD Dave Joyner was seriously considering a trip to Tampa to get a baseline interest level on the Penn State opening from Schiano - and that before it was officially an opening. In other words, Penn State was mulling its options before O'Brien was officially gone. 

PennLive mused a little about it - (LINK) - and went on at length about how the idea of Schiano rather polarizes the Nittany Lions fanbase. 

 

Joined: 01/07/2011

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mGrowOld

January 1st, 2014 at 6:21 PM ^

PSU should hire Jay Paterno and be done with it.  That would absolutely thrill the PSU apologists who live in denial that their precious JoPa did anything wrong.

Fuck Penn State.  I hope they hire a coach who destroys their program.

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gwkrlghl

January 1st, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^

I think they might only be happy with a Paterno or possibly just JoePa's skeleton propped up on the sideline.

I feel bad for the players that BOB jumped ship, but the school can still suffer for all I care. There's still a significant chunk of that fanbase that thinks they were the ones who were wronged. "Cant believe those children are getting in the way of Penn State footbaw!"

Joined: 04/13/2012

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Yeoman

January 1st, 2014 at 7:24 PM ^

They wouldn't have to worry that he was just using them as a stepping-stone to an NFL job, in fact they could be quite sure he'd never get an offer from anyone, anywhere. He'd have no trouble getting along with the Paterno faction, and he'd stay long enough that they could groom one of the grandchildren to take over when he retires.

What's the drawback again?

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Space Coyote

January 1st, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^

He is a former PSU coach after all. He was a GA and then a DB coach there for 6 years (1990-1995). So he has connection to the program, runs a style of team that PSU fans should be comfortable with, and had some success in college. He has a mix of having connections with the programs positive past (and has built a similar system that focused building a program similar to what PSU's program was perceived to be prior to the Sandusky stuff surfaced) while being able to maintain that he has no connection with the programs negative past.

Maybe it wasn't enough success for them, but not sure who else they are expecting to get that'll do much better.

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Mpfnfu Ford

January 1st, 2014 at 6:52 PM ^

I've been amazed to see so many Penn State people losing their minds over Schiano. I mean, sure, getting Franklin would be a great hire, but he has no real ties to Penn State other than he's from the state and there's no real word out there that he's even interested. Schiano has a FAR stronger track record than Al Golden, who seems to be the It Boy (God I want his publicist).

If you give me the choice between a guy who is the difference between Rutgers dropping to FCS and joining the B1G versus a guy who can't beat Duke for a division championship with Miami, I know which guy I want.

 

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TheNema

January 1st, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^

Why should Franklin not having ties be a deterrent? Hell, it should be closer to a prerequisite given Penn State's past.

And saying Schiano made the difference for Rutgers to be able to join the B1G is nuts. It was all about TV markets. They could have never had a winning season in recent years and Delaney would have sold them as "an athletic department on the rise."

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Mpfnfu Ford

January 2nd, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^

I don't think Penn State should turn up it's nose because of a lack of ties. I don't see HIM taking the job. I'm reading Penn State folks who think OH FRANKLIN WOULD LOVE TO COACH HERE, SEE, HE'S FROM PENNSYLVANIA! as if nothing happened in the past few years to make a 40-something year old coach being courted by Texas think twice about Penn State. With Schiano, he'll take the job if he has to walk from Tampa to get it.

And no, if Rutgers was still a 1-2 win a year program like it was pre-Schiano, it would not be in the Big 10. No amount of TV market projection is going to cover up a program that has literally never won in its history. Schiano won there. He put them on the map and made them something other than, "Well, if Rutgers ever gets its shit together, it could maybe be something!"

Even if Schiano only won 8 games a year there, that would be an insanely good accomplishment given Rutgers' history. People have made a big deal about Franklin having winning seasons at Vandy, and he deserves credit, but what Schiano did at Rutgers was a tougher accomplishment.

 

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TheNema

January 2nd, 2014 at 12:52 AM ^

Fair enough but Michigan is an extreme case in that both local and national media have picked up on the "Michigan Man" phenomenon and will cover any coaching search through that prism. And if there was a Guiness World Record for most kicking and screaming done by one college football faction who didn't get their way in a coaching search, the 2007-2010 Lloyd Loyalists would have earned it by a country mile.

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Yeoman

January 2nd, 2014 at 1:51 AM ^

In the end, Lloyd Carr did get his way in 2007. He's the one that invited RR to throw his hat into the ring in the first place.

He may have had buyer's remorse later, but it wasn't because he didn't get his way.

I think your description better fits the Miles-for-Michigan crowd, to be honest. There's probably some overlap between that group and your Loyalists, of course, which is kind of odd under the circumstances.

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TheNema

January 2nd, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^

I thought that story had been refuted. Even if he made the call, I think we could safely say that Carr didn't want Rodriguez so much as he just would have thought Rodriguez was one of a small handful of realistic picks who would have gotten Michigan away from Les Miles.

Carr hired five offensive coordinators and three defensive coordinators in his HC career. Every single one was an in-house selection. Nobody was more loyal to the old boy network than him because no one benefitted more from it. He wanted a promotion from within, Hoke or someone like Ferentz who would keep most of the assistants around since they shared the same philosophies.

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snarling wolverine

January 2nd, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^

And if there was a Guiness World Record for most kicking and screaming done by one college football faction who didn't get their way in a coaching search, the 2007-2010 Lloyd Loyalists would have earned it by a country mile.
Not so sure - ND's old-blood faction when Willingham coached there and Nebraska's when Callahan coached there were very similar. We just paid more attention when it was us.

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MJ14

January 1st, 2014 at 7:11 PM ^

I didn't realize that Schiano had coached at PSU. I thought for sure Golden would be the guy, but I could definitely see Schiano if he already has a connection. My money is on one of those two. 

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Princetonwolverine

January 1st, 2014 at 7:13 PM ^

If it weren't for the job Schiano did at Rutgers the Big Ten would never have added them.

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