Flashback: How close was Greg Schiano to the Michigan job?
https://mgoblog.com/content/how-close-was-greg-schiano-michigan-job
Brian wrote the article above back in 2008. With hindsight being 20/20, would Michigan be in a better spot right now if Schiano made his way to Ann Arbor rather than RichRod? Or were there too many barriers for anyone to succeed immediately after Carr - the pressure of following a highly successful coach, diminished recruiting success in prior years, various alumni factions wanting influence, etc.?
If he would have “walked to Michigan” like Hoke was willing to do, it seems like he would have been the guy based on insider information. I tend to think he would have been a great cultural fit and could have kept players like Mallet in the fold and maybe even a few early draft prospects. He clearly gets the most from his players as demonstrated in his first go around and Rutgers and the early returns on his second tenure in a much different conference (it is crazy to think Rutgers was the king of the Big East a mere 12 years ago!).
If he were willing to come to Michigan now, would he be an acceptable candidate? I think he’d have immediate success and also has OSU ties now, which would only help our cause in the rivalry.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^
We'd have just as many conference titles with Schiano as we currently have plus the stink of the JoePa scandal.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:17 PM ^
I'm glad this is a thought exercise instead of forensic analysis
November 30th, 2020 at 6:20 PM ^
In 2008, let's dump all the money at Urban Meyer... Why mess around with Schiano?
November 30th, 2020 at 6:20 PM ^
What if god was one of us?
November 30th, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^
Why would god do that to themself and become a Michigan fan?
November 30th, 2020 at 6:30 PM ^
To be a slob like just one of us, no?
November 30th, 2020 at 6:52 PM ^
Hes just trying to make his way home
November 30th, 2020 at 6:54 PM ^
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
November 30th, 2020 at 9:34 PM ^
Dr. Evil: I wrote that.
November 30th, 2020 at 9:09 PM ^
Every time I have heard this song I get distracted by the poor grammar.
were. What if God were one of us. Jeez
November 30th, 2020 at 9:47 PM ^
Isn't it ironic?
November 30th, 2020 at 10:14 PM ^
Don't you think?
November 30th, 2020 at 10:29 PM ^
It's like rain...
After I washed my fucking car.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:24 PM ^
He was king of the big east without ever winning the conference? And with having as many losing seasons as winning (6 each)? And with going 4-8 his tenth year there?
November 30th, 2020 at 6:44 PM ^
At Rutgers, they measure success in 7+ win seasons.
He has 6 of those, which is frankly amazing at that place.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:58 PM ^
There is a fair amount of local football talent in New Jersey. Rutgers coaches just can't seem to keep it home.
November 30th, 2020 at 11:56 PM ^
Back in the day, New Jersey was the stomping grounds of Eastern independents, particularly Penn State but also Syracuse and BC. The high school football there is easily the best among the NE / NY / NJ states.
Rutgers has always struggled to keep that talent in-state--Schiano really started to change that in his first stint.
November 30th, 2020 at 8:49 PM ^
Before Schiano, most of their football success came at the hands of Ivy League schools and Connecticut and Massachusetts. When they started to beef up their schedule in the eighties, they didn't do so well. The guy before Schiano was 11-44.
So it is impressive, at least in Rutgers football terms, for Schiano to turn Rutgers into a marginal bowl team with the occasional good year (11-2 in 2006).
This of course is why everyone makes fun of Rutgers.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:34 PM ^
I could be wrong but my recollection was that he played Michigan for a week or so then "turned them down", though nothing was actually offered. The feeling was he was building himself up for when PSU came open.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:50 PM ^
There are enough sources that seem to support the PSU claim.
I think he was offered the job after Martin met him at a NCAA conference and interviewed him in NYC. He supposedly accepted but then got wet feet thinking the PSU job was his in 1-2 years.
I think it was just a 1-2 day period, but things were in flux big time after the Les Miles press conference "thank you and have a nice day!"
Given his career afterward and the embarrassment of the Tennessee rejection, he should have just stayed with his yes to UM and been way better off.
November 30th, 2020 at 6:42 PM ^
As troublesome as it has been at times, I think dealing with the mythos of the "Michigan Man" is better than a having a program infested with "Schiano men".
November 30th, 2020 at 10:14 PM ^
I hate to say this but Schiano would have done way better than Rich Rod. Schiano is a "my way or the highway" guy and a first class prick to boot. But all those "Michigan Men" would not have rolled over him like they did Rodriguez. Schiano would have punched back and earned some respect.
As a fully paid up Michigan Man myself, I can get up on a soap box and declare that I am damn sick of hearing about "Michigan Men." Really, we need to stop radiating this sense of superiority. I am proud to be an alum and believe I got a terrific education at an amazing school and four fantastic years living in a great college town. But millions of graduates of other schools believe the same about themselves. And if they went toMSU or OSU they are delusional.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:45 PM ^
The big difference between RR and Greg is that RR tried playing nice with the establishment and got burned. I still think he was doomed because the defensive strategy he tried to force (3-3-5) has no chance working vs. OSU, Wisconsin, etc. But he got ZERO help from anyone, including Woodson who would say on MNF when asked his school "Lloyd Carr's Michigan"
Greg would take no prisoners and punch back and hard. Eventually he would have been forced out by people clamoring for JH but could have a run maybe a shade better than Pelini at Nebraska.
December 1st, 2020 at 7:45 AM ^
That was Braylon Edwards
November 30th, 2020 at 6:48 PM ^
Flashback to 2008......Bill Martin gets his lazy ass off his yacht and takes a trip to Baton Rouge, Michigan roster stays intact, recruiting improves, a coach that can beat OSU is secured, the program is in a better direction.
November 30th, 2020 at 7:50 PM ^
Les Miles would not have consistently beaten OSU. LSU is one of the easiest jobs in the country at which a coach can excel. Very possibly the best high school talent per capita in the country and zero in state competition for said talent. And now that he's losing, everyone is down on Harbaugh for being weird (which he is). Les Miles is transcendently weird. With frequently ridiculous talent, he made Harbaugh's offense look like the Chiefs. I never have thought that one would have worked.
December 1st, 2020 at 6:09 AM ^
Yeah, we've all been rightly annoyed with Harbaugh's offenses and QB development - does anyone remember how Les Mile's LSU offenses looked? It was bad for a lot of years
November 30th, 2020 at 9:23 PM ^
Les is not a good coach, see Kansas, and really never was.
November 30th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
No outsider would have made it. The failure of Harbaugh will finally open the eyes of the moneybags that make the calls. RR never had a fair shake. We need to cut all ties with the Michigan Man attitude. Bo was great. But it’s time to move on away from that. It’s 1987 football however you slice it.
November 30th, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
Schiano is a great coach (remember Rutgers the last 7 or so years)?
He would have held on to Mallett and Boren and would have generally kept Lloyd’s system (maybe poaching Larry Johnson too)?
We would certainly be better off than we are now.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:40 PM ^
Losing Mallett was the killer - I don't blame richrod for that one, Lloyd supposedly F'ed things up with our QB to get him to transfer.
Mallett stays and I think Boren, Arrington, and a few other players stay and/or play hard for the new coach.
2008 is probably an 8-4 season. Lose at ND, PSU, OSU and maybe Utah at home. The games vs. MSU, NW, Toledo, Illinois, and Purdue are wins.
I still think Greg would have be like JH 2015-19, maybe a fluke win vs. OSU, but way better vs. MSU. People would want him out because he is prickly, so his first 7-5 season would be his last. and JH would have been brought in as a savior.
The one thing Greg would have done is schooled dicktonio and prevented that guy from every being around long enough to have that 2013-15 run.
December 1st, 2020 at 1:35 AM ^
Mallett wouldn't have stayed with Michigan. He was going to transfer no matter what because no one liked him at Michigan and he hated being at Michigan.
November 30th, 2020 at 8:31 PM ^
Would Schiano been able to win over the Lloyd loyalist faction?
November 30th, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
I think that would have been impossible given Lloyd wanted Debord or English to be gifted the HC job.
Schiano would have probably charted the same course we saw from JH 2015-19. But probably even better vs. MSU since he would have snuffed out dicktonio with a pillow before the MSU prick was given keys to the 2nd best players in Ohio by Tressel.
Greg's fate would have been the same as Hoke's but I think he would have lasted 7-8 years winning 9, 10 games per year.
The best comparison I have is Pelini at Nebraska - a supreme DICK but he did win 8-9 games a year for some time.
November 30th, 2020 at 11:09 PM ^
Yes, for all of Brian's revisionist Lloyd hagiography today, we tend to forget that his poisoning of the well for RR triggers this entire chain of events. Imagine if RR had had half a fucking chance.
November 30th, 2020 at 8:36 PM ^
I'm right now watching an episode of Star Trek (TOS) from season one called Tomorrow is Yesterday.
They are exploring time travel ideas that just might help you, OP.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tomorrow_is_Yesterday_(episode)
November 30th, 2020 at 10:27 PM ^
That is a good episode!
We could use some time travel to undo the last 12+ years!
November 30th, 2020 at 9:22 PM ^
cultural fit?
November 30th, 2020 at 10:29 PM ^
There's no doubt Greg would have not lasted forever because of his prickly nature, but some big wins go a long way. I think he could have had a 6-9 year career here before a 7-5 season may have sunk him and JH would have been ushered in.
Big donors like Schmoozers - and Greg sure ain't that type.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:25 PM ^
My recollection of this event was listening to the 11 PM news Thursday night in Dec 2007 and hearing the sports guy "Greg Schiano to be announced as Michigan's new head coach on Friday"
I was a Les Miles guy but was OK with Greg after the way we crapped on Les and left him out to dry - Les deserved better.
That Friday morning the news broke that Greg apparently had decided to reject the offer he had accepted - I called a longtime fan who was also connected to some people in the know because of his large donations to the athletic department.
What he shared to me made sense that morning and also even now.
Greg used the excuse that NJ would improve the facilities at its state U (which didn't happen for years thanks the Great Recession) and he couldn't leave the players, even though he had already accepted the job at least verbally.
My connection told me that Greg had actually called a coach/person in the PSU athletic dept about when JoePa would step down and was told two things: soon, and Greg was Joe's choice.
Greg wanted to succeed Joe period and decided the Michigan job wouldn't be his stepping stone since Joe would leave "soon"
As for what would have happened - I think three things: (1) very few wins vs. Tressel (he and the cheating were one step above what UM could/would do), (2) dicktonio would have met his match and probably been forced out from MSU by 2010/11 with maybe one win vs Big Bro, (3) maybe one BIG 10 title with a fluke year, OSU having QB issues, etc. - we may still have gotten JH in 2015, but not with the richrod and Hoke debacles, but instead a string of 9-4, 10-3 seasons. But we would have made Mike Dantoni into a surefire CFB HOF coach.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:32 PM ^
That 2008 piece should serve as a reminder that when filling a coaching vacancy it is very possible that your first and second choices turn you down. Then what.
Not saying that would happen again here but if there is a vacancy this season, I fully expect every sports talker person to be asking if head coach at M is still considered a good job.
November 30th, 2020 at 10:59 PM ^
I don’t want the stench of Schiano anywhere near this program.
December 1st, 2020 at 2:32 AM ^
May be if he was hired instead of RR. Mallet would have stayed and believe it or not, in '08 we had a good defense and a decent RB, may be better RBs than we now have. The key would be if Schiano were able to get Michigan back to the '06 Carr level in 2 years, we would be in good shape before the 4 team playoff system started and if we would have gotten in to the playoffs, then recruiting would improve tremendously.
December 1st, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
I was a big Bucs fan at the time and if his miserable failure at Michigan could have prevented him from getting the Bucs job, I might have been ok with it.