Greg Schiano emerges as 'front-runner' for Tennessee job, report says

In 1989, Greg Schiano left his job as a graduate assistant for the Rutgers football program and was replaced by Butch Jones on then-Scarlet Knights coach Doug Graber's staff.

Nearly 30 years later, it looks like it could be the other way around.

According to a USA TODAY report, Schiano has emerged as a front-runner for a Tennessee head-coaching vacancy that was created earlier this month when the Vols administration fired Jones.

The USA TODAY's Dan Wolken reported that Tennessee is expected to make an announcement Sunday.

UPDATED: Tennessee hoping to finalize agreement with Greg Schiano to be its next coach today https://t.co/J7K9rH2UKC via @usatoday
-- Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) November 26, 2017

Schiano currently is in his second season as defensive coordinator at Ohio State. But the 51-year old Wyckoff, N.J., native also was the architect of Rutgers' rise from a perennial Big East cellar dweller to a program that earned bowl berths in six of his final seven seasons before he left to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers job in 2012.

Although it wasn't known at the time, sources recently told NJ Advance Media that Schiano was a top candidate for the Tennessee vacancy after the 2009 season. Schiano, who had turned down overtures to take over the Miami and Michigan programs during the two prior offseasons, was fresh off leading the Scarlet Knights to four straight bowl berths at the time.

Oral history of Schiano's RU departure

Now, Schiano is close to taking over a Tennessee program that just completed a 4-8 campaign that included a 0-8 mark in the SEC East Division this fall.

As the defensive play-caller with Ohio State, Schiano has the Buckeyes' defense ranked 20th nationally in points allowed (19.8) and eighth nationally yards allowed (291.8) per game.

According to the USA TODAY report, Schiano has a longstanding relationship with Tennessee Athletics Director John Currie.

Schiano also has an existing relationship with Jarrett Guarantano, a redshirt freshman out of Bergen Catholic who emerged as Tennessee's starting quarterback this season.

Guarantano's father, Jim, was a former Rutgers wide receiver who is in the program's Hall of Fame. He told NJ Advance Media after Jarrett Guarantano committed to Tenneesse in April 2015 that Schiano jokingly offered his son a scholarship "when he was 6 years old.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.

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