Greg Schiano Deserves a Chance to Coach in the SEC

Greg Schiano deserves a chance as a head coach in the SEC. Many may remember Schiano’s name linked to the University of Tennessee for it’s head coaching vacancy back in 2017 when he was set to become its next coach to replace Butch Jones who had been fired at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Campus protests led to a rapid change in direction for the Vols as they decided to back out of their memorandum of understanding with then Ohio State defensive coordinator Schiano due to an outcry from Tennessee fans. One of the main reasons being Schiano’s connection to the Jerry Sandusky era at Penn State. Schiano was an assistant under former head coach Joe Paterno during Sandusky’s time at the school.

With the outcry and his job rescinded, Schiano returned to Ohio State for the 2017 season to continue to work under then head coach Urban Meyer as defensive coordinator.

With all of the turmoil aside that Schiano arguably had little to do with, he’s continued to be successful not only as an assistant coach, but a head coach. That head coaching experience has come in two separate stints with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights; his first being from 2001-2011 and his second starting in 2020 to present.

Greg Schiano deserves a chance to coach in the SEC

In his first stint as Scarlet Knights head coach, Schiano turned the program from a doormat of the Big East conference into a contender by the time he exited for the NFL to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012. In Schiano’s first two seasons, Rutgers amassed only three wins. In his final five seasons from 2006-2011, Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to nine wins or more in four of those five seasons, including an 11 win regular season in 2006.

After being fired in 2013 by the Buccaneers, Schiano returned to the college ranks in 2016 where he served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator under the Urban Meyer led Buckeyes from 2016-2018 boasting a defense in 2016 that allowed only 14.2 points per game which was third in the country.

Rutgers re-hired Schiano as its head coach in 2020 after falling back on hard times since his departure in 2011. And Schiano is back to rebuilding the program again, having them off to a 6-2 start which, already has the school seeing its highest win total at six since 2015. It’s also showing for Schiano that he’s rebuilding it once again as it’s the best record he’s had to-date since the start of his second stint in 2020.