Report: Greg Schiano agrees to become Rutgers coach

After some back-and-forth negotiations, Greg Schiano appears headed back to Rutgers.

Schiano has agreed to a deal in principle to serve as Rutgers’ football coach, Yahoo’s Pete Thamel reported on Saturday.

The saga between both sides lasted about a month. Early in November, a report said that Schiano could be hired that week. Then there was talk that Schiano’s demands were significant and preventing a deal. A week ago, a report said the two sides were unable to come to a deal. The two sides continued to talk and got into deep negotiations on Saturday, finally agreeing to a deal.

A special Board of Governors meeting must be arranged to approve a deal.

This was always the most likely scenario.

Even if Schiano was walking away from the table due to contract demands, he did not have many other appealing options. For Rutgers, their focus was almost solely on Schiano, and they really did not have any better candidates for the job.

Schiano resigned as the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator in March. A report in late September said he resigned so that he would be available in case Rutgers fired Chris Ash, which happened in September. Schiano got back into coaching on Urban Meyer’s staff from 2016-2018 and actually was hired to take the Tennessee job, but a fan revolt scuttled the hire, leading Schiano back to the Buckeyes last year. He enjoyed great success as the head coach at Rutgers from 2001-2011, but it would take a lot to rebuild the program now, especially since they’re in the Big Ten rather than the Big East.