Rutgers (5-5, 2-5 Big Ten) will look to become bowl eligible Saturday at Penn State under head coach Greg Schiano.
Schiano is in his second stint as Rutgers’ head coach after holding the position from 2001-11 and returning in 2020.
Ahead of Saturday’s Rutgers-Penn State game, Tennessee alum and SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum discussed Schiano in an exclusive interview with Rutgers Wire.
Schiano served as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator under head coach Urban Meyer in 2017.
Tennessee fired Butch Jones as its head coach on Nov. 12, 2017, and the Vols’ search for his replacement reached Schiano.
Tennessee fans displayed their displeasure of discussion that Schiano was set to become the Vols’ next head coach. Fans protested and voiced their displeasure on campus, social media and on sports talk shows. Protests turned into Tennessee not hiring Schiano as its next head coach.
“I’ve become a bigger fan of Schiano today than before because of what happened at Tennessee,” Finebaum told Rutgers Wire. “I’m an alum – I thought that was one of the great travesties in modern college football history. I’m not an expert on karma, but karma has definitely had an effect on what happened there.”
A Tennessee fan holds a sign reading “SchiaNO” during a gathering of Tennessee fans reacting to the possibility of hiring Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano for its head coaching vacancy Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Knoxville, Tenn. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)
Finebaum further discussed Schiano Sunday that impacted the Rutgers’ head coach and Tennessee’s program.
“They hired Jeremy Pruitt who went down in disgrace, the program is under NCAA investigation,” Finebaum continued. “How did that work out? You had an angry mob led by some people on social media who destroyed a man’s chance to get a job, and without not one scintilla of evidence.
“It was totally preposterous, and Tennessee as well, they made the man an offer, they should have stood by it.”
