The University of Tennessee Offer Greg Schiano Job, Change Their Mind and Now Being Sued by Him

Tennessee AD John Currie thought had found the right man to replace dismissed head football coach Butch Henry when the Vols signed a memorandum of agreement to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano Sunday.

Schiano had taken Rutgers, one of the worst programs in the country, to six winning seasons from 2001 to 2011. He spent two disappointing seasons as head coach of the NFL Tampa Bay Bucs before joining Urban Meyers’ high powered staff in 2016. Currie felt he had done a good job carefully vetting him.

But he badly misjudged the voice of the disgruntled Tennessee football fans, who had lived through a 4-8 season that included an 0-8 record in the SEC and were incensed with the choice of what they considered an OK candidate whose record at Rutgers was 67-68 and whose team was blown out by Jones’ Cincinnati team toward the end of his tenure in Piscataway. Shortly after word leaked out, the backlash started on social media with a group of vocal UT vigilantes took to Twitter, making baseless 2015 accusations that Schiano, who was on an assistant on the late Joe Paterno’s staff at Penn State from 1991-1995, knew defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was abusing children and didn’t alert authorities. Over 100 fans showed up at the president’s office to show their disapproval with chants of “Schia NO.” A handful of three Tennessee state representatives and four Republican gubernatorial candidates also issued statements, criticizing the potential hire.

By the end of the night, Currie bowed to public pressure and Tennessee backed out of the offer.

Schiano, for the record, was never accused of any wrongdoing and has denied he had knowledge of what had happened. Anthony Lubrano, a member of Penn State’s Board of Trustees, has issued a statement stating Schiano ”had nothing to do with the Sandusky scandal and any stories about his involvement are completely uncoordinated and without basis in fact. It is disappointing that University of Tennessee officials have been influenced by the voices of a grossly informed social media mob.”

Tennessee won a national championship in 1997 but hasn’t won an SEC division championship since 2007, going through three coaches since the departure of Phillip Fulmer.

But that has not stopped delusional UT fans from thinking they could get former Bucs’ Super Bowl coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, who is making $6.5 million and was never coming to Rocky Top, the University of Washington’s Chris Peterson and former Oklahoma Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops and Brian Kelly of Notre Dame were also mentioned. None had any interest.

Now Currie and his over zealous fan base have a big problem.

After the way Schiano was treated, realistic candidates like Jeff Brohm of Purdue, Chad Morris of SMU and Mike Leach of Washington State may not want to sign on for an SEC job that has unrealistic expectations. Since Fulmer left, Tennessee has been unable to get its first choice, settling for Lane Kiffin, Derek Dooley and Jones.

No one is saying Schiano was the perfect solution, but if Currie doesn’t come up with a home run hire, he will likely be gone and the Vols will be back picking up the pieces.

The University of Tennessee is now being sued by Schiano, who has returned to his job at Ohio State for next year.