The Newark Star-Ledger is reporting this morning that Rutgers University football coach Greg Schiano met with University of Michigan’s Athletic Director and may be in line to replace Lloyd Carr:
Rutgers University football coach Greg Schiano met with Univerity of Michigan athletic director Bill Martin “for quite a while” Wednesday in New York City to discuss the Big Ten school’s coaching vacancy, according to a person who speaks regularly with Schiano.
Though no official offer has been made, according to the person, one could be forthcoming. The person requested anonymity because he is not at liberty to speak for Schiano.
Along the same lines, the Home-News Tribune out of East Brunswick reports similar developments:
Rutgers coach Greg Schiano met with University of Michigan Athletics Director Bill Martin on Wednesday to discuss Michigan’s vacant coaching position, a source with knowledge of the meeting said Thursday night.
The source, who requested anonymity, said “there’s mutual interest from both sides,” meaning there’s a chance that Schiano could replace recently retired coach Lloyd Carr and take over one of college football’s most storied programs.
While a formal offer wasn’t made, the source said Schiano could be offered the job as early as Friday.
Of course, it was just about a year ago, after the Scarlet Knights’ great 2006 season that Schiano was offered and turned down the coaching job at Miami. Also, more than once last December, Schiano made clear his desire to stay at Rutgers and build a great program there. As the Star-Ledger notes, though, things may be different this time:
Though Rutgers recently saw its ambitious $100 million stadium expansion plans stall, only to be jump-started slightly by Gov. Jon Corzine’s personal pledge of $1 million, the setback isn’t believed to be the driving force in Schiano willingly listening to another major school’s offer for the second straight December. It’s the lure of Michigan.
One of the most storied programs in the country - on par with Notre Dame and USC - Michigan has won 42 Big Ten titles and 11 national championships, though only one since 1948, winning it in 1997.
As much as it would pain me to see Schiano leave just when the program he talked about putting together is coming together — which is something that has happened to Rutgers all too often in the past — and it would pain me even more to see him go to Michigan, the lure of one of the most storied college football programs in the country may be too much for him to resist.
