Let's take a quick break from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' upcoming season and rewind the tapes. Back in 2012, the Bucs were looking for a new head coach and ultimately decided on Greg Schiano, who, at the time, was the head coach of the Rutgers football team.
In 2011, Schiano had led the Scarlet Knights to a 9-4 record and it was impressive enough that it landed him an NFL coaching job. Off to Tampa Schiano went and Buccaneers fans hoped that this would be the hire that would turn things around for the franchise.
Spoiler alert - It was not.
Schiano went a mere 11-21 in two years on the job and was fired following a pathetic 4-12 campaign in 2013. The Buccaneers were once again searching for a new head coach.
Schiano spent some time away from coaching before resurfacing with the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2016 as their assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. He was rehired by Rutgers as the head coach in 2020 and has remained in New Jersey ever since.
Well, that might not be the case for much longer. You see, Schiano's Scarlet Knights opened up their 2026 season on Thursday night and it did not go well. Rutgers lost by double digits to UMass, a program that had been riding a 16-game losing streak dating back to 2023.
Greg Schiano's job at Rutgers just took a brutal turn for the worst
Not only did UMass beat Schiano's Scarlet Knights, but they also collected $1.5 million for doing so. Talk about a disaster for Rutgers and one that could ultimately cost Schiano his job.
The college football landscape has changed significantly since Schiano's first stint in Jersey relying heavily on NIL deals to keep top talent. Rutgers isn't exactly a college football goldmine so it makes sense that Schiano's second run with the Scarlet Knights isn't going as smoothly as his first did.
Since he rejoined Rutgers, Schiano has led the Scarlet Knights to records of 3-6, 5-8, 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, and 5-7. That's likely not the kind of production the program was hoping for when they brought him back but, again, NIL has changed the entire landscape and made it hard for programs to keep up. Perhaps Rutgers feels that Schiano is better than alternative options floating around.
After this loss to UMass, however, Schiano has to hope his team rebounds in a big way or this could very well be his last year with the program. No one would blame the Scarlet Knights for moving on from him.
Buccaneers fans might not give Schiano much thought these days but it's also hard not to have put the connection together when seeing that Rutgers score pop up on the screen. After all, how could you ignore a result that wild?
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