According to FOXSports.com, athletic director Bill Martin met with Rutgers’ head coach Greg Schiano to talk about the head coach vacancy at Michigan.
Both papers cited unidentified sources saying the meeting took place Tuesday night in New York during the College Football Hall of Fame banquet at a midtown Manhattan hotel. Though Michigan has made no official offer to Schiano, both papers reported one could be coming soon.
Schiano, a New Jersey native, has orchestrated one of the most impressive turnarounds in college football during his seven seasons at Rutgers. When he took over in Piscataway, N.J., the program was one of the worst in the Division I-A.
The Scarlet Knights have had three straight winning seasons and will be making their third consecutive postseason appearance at the International Bowl against Ball State on Jan. 6. They went 7-5 this season, a disappointment after starting the season ranked No. 16 in the nation.
Gasp! You mean Michigan is actually considering a head coach who isn’t a “Michigan man”? Wow, maybe the athletic department is starting to realize that there are decent candidates outside the “Great Lake State.” Schiano has done wonders at Rutgers and one would think that with more recruiting power, he could do the same at UM. Even if Schiano can’t be lured from Jersey, it appears that Michigan is going after a big name.
Update: ESPN is now reporting Schiano is staying at Rutgers. Michigan is now 0-2 luring head coaches.
I just read that Schiano said he’s not interested in the job. Imagine…a college football coach who has been offered two high profile jobs in two years but decided not to follow the money and finish the job he was hired for. What does that say for Michigan that they couldn’t lure a coach from what was a perennial NCAA doormat? Who’s next…Jerry Moore from Appalachian State? Naah…he wouldn’t want to take a step down for his next job!!
I think Schiano staying speaks volumes to his character. However let’s face it, Michigan hasn’t paid a coach a competitive salary in 40 years. We have no idea how much they offered Schiano (or if they talked dollar amounts period), but I bet it wasn’t that much. I’m not trying to say that Schiano only rejected the offer because of the money, but it’s interesting that both him and Miles rejected Michigan’s attempts within days.
I didn’t think of it that way but I just expected the Michigan job would pay more than Rutgers, considering their budget and their Boosters compared to Jersey State. I agree about Schiano’s character though…I admire him for staying as he seems a perfect fit for that program. I hope good things are to come for the Scarlett Knights.
The Michigan job may be a tough sell to a coach from an elite SEC team. There’s no reason to leave the best conference in the NCAA. But when a team like Michigan can’t get a coach from the Big East, I think that says a lot about where the program may be headed.
Who would ever think the Big Blue would be struggleing to find a head coach ?
BO