Another name just surfaced in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coaching search, this time floated by 620 WDAE via Rick Stroud, and later reported by Jason La Canfora: Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano. As I've been saying for the past week, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucs pulled another shocking name out of their hat, and if 620 WDAE is correct they certainly did.
Greg Schiano is an interesting name, to say the least. He took over a faltering Rutgers football team in 2001, a team that hadn't been to a bowl game since 1978. Over the next 11 years he re-built that program, took it to six bowl games winning five of those. While Schiano's overall record of 68-67 wouldn't instill a lot of confidence, seen in the context of the program he took over it's pretty impressive.
His previous experience came on the defensive side of the ball, most notably as the defensive coordinator of the Miami Hurricanes in 1999 and 2000. He was also an assistant for the Chicago Bears from 1996 through 1998, so he does at least have some NFL experience.
As always with college coaches, though, the question is whether he won games because of coaching or recruiting. The Big East hasn't exactly been a conference of powerhouses, so his opposition hasn't been stellar. Still, he has done a good job at Rutgers, and he has impressed people around the NFL. According to Peter King, at least, who notes that Bill Belichick thinks Schiano "could be a very good pro coach".
So far this is little more than a rumor, but it's another name that can be added to the list.