There’s only a crumb of information here, but it’s more than enough to speculate about what larger story could be told.
On Wednesday, at the Big 10 Media Days event, Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano was asked if he was ready to “tell us about Tennessee now.”
Schiano chuckled at the question and then gave his short and sweet answer.
“Not quite yet,” Schiano said. “Not quite yet. It’s a coming, though.”
Had Schiano just stopped at “not quite yet,” there really wouldn’t be much of a story here. After years of staying quiet about the situation, many were under the impression that the full story may not be told, or that it would at least be a long time before that happened. Since the initial story unraveled, Tennessee has moved on and Schiano has moved on.
However, after his comment on Wednesday, it looks like Schiano is still intent on telling his side of the story and everything that happened in 2017.
So… what did happen?
In Nov. 2017, following Tennessee’s firing of Butch Jones just weeks before, ESPN’s Chris Low reported that Tennessee had “backed out of a memorandum of understanding with Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano to be the Volunteers’ next football coach.”
Additionally, the report also states that both Tennessee and Schiano had signed the memorandum of understanding at the time.
Tennessee, ultimately, backed out of the deal after immediate public backlash from the Tennessee fanbase in the hours following the original announcement. Schiano’s connection to Jerry Sandusky at Penn State was the rallying cry for Tennessee fans as many gathered on campus to protest the direction of the football program.
Tennessee’s fans were loud on social media and in-person, and intent on getting their voice across to the program. The fanbase went through several protesting-related actions including signs that read “Schia-NO” and even wrote “Schiano covered up child rape at Penn State” on The Rock on Tennessee’s campus.
Tennessee doesn't like Schiano part 2
📸: 'The Rock' on UT's Campus pic.twitter.com/zqRgAw7IxD
— Centenary SMA (@Cent_SMA) November 27, 2017
Tennessee state representatives, such as Eddie Smith and Jeremy Faison, also fueled the fire by publically standing against the hire on social media.
After the deal was put in the can, Schiano returned to his defensive coordinator position with Ohio State. He was then was hired by Rutgers to return as their head coach in Dec. 2019.
During Big 10 Media Days, Schiano didn’t go into any further detail about Tennessee than what he said in the quote mentioned above. However, it is fascinating to know that Schiano is still ready, and seemingly eager, to tell that story when the time is right.
Now, it’s only a matter of time until that happens.
One Response
The best thing Schiano can do would be to leave it alone and keep his mouth shut.