The news broke on Tuesday that Rutgers was bringing back head coach Greg Schiano.
For fans around the Garden State, this left plenty of concern about the immediate future of the team — and rightfully so. Let’s look at the facts.
The Scarlet Knights went through yet another quarterback competition in camp with subpar options. The roster lacked in the Big Ten as a whole. The season began with back-to-back losses against UMass and Boston College, who combined to go 2-22 the year before.
Big Ten play has
not been much better. Rutgers has one-score losses to USC and Michigan with three losses coming by an average of 27 points. The only win came against Maryland. Rutgers has three games left and the lone shot at a win seems to be against Michigan State in the final week of the season.
Even with a win, this would leave Rutgers at 3-9 as the program continues to trend downward. In what is now year seven of Schiano back in Piscataway, this is a complete disaster.
In normal circumstances, this would be enough to fire a head coach. So, what’s the problem?
Schiano is owed approximately $18.9 million if he were to be fired. For an athletic department already in a less than ideal financial position, this was too much to cough up. This is especially true when you factor in that hiring a new head coach worthy of the job would cost more than the $6.75 million average that Schiano is making.
An expensive buyout and a department that is currently prioritizing getting back in a favorable place financially. Once again, this is not ideal for fans who want to see the team succeed on the field.
Schiano: “We’re Not A Million Miles Away” Really?
Only 950,000 miles away apparently.
Schiano met with the media on Tuesday and was asked a great question by Brian Fonseca of NJ.com — why should fans believe?
As always, Schiano did not have an answer.
“We’re not a million miles away,” Schiano said. “And we just have to get this roster in ‘27 ready to do the things we know we’re capable of doing.”
“I can understand their complete frustration because I have the same frustration, but we have done it before. I think what we have to do is double down on the best things we do and change some of the things we haven’t evolved quickly enough with the times — I haven’t evolved quickly enough with the times. We need to do that. I’m ready to do that. We play in a great league, but if you look at it, we’ve played competitive against some really good football teams.”
If you believe that, then Schiano has the Lynch Memorial Bridge in New Brunswick that he can sell you.
In year seven, the team should be in a position to compete at a high level in the Big Ten. It should not be satisfied with playing two close games in conference play with one coming against a bad Michigan team. In fact, Rutgers continues to go backwards from the team that made back-to-back bowl games.
It is clear why the decision was made to retain Schiano but in terms of the immediate future of the team, it does not bring much confidence. And again, Rutgers fans are the ones who suffer.
