Tennessee Backs Out Of Deal With Greg Schiano

Update:

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports is now reporting that Tennessee officials have called Greg Schiano’s representatives and told them they are backing out of their agreement to make him the next football coach at Tennessee.

Tennessee began to shift gears on their deal with Schiano after they faced significant backlash online and on their campus in part to Schiano being linked to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

A veteran athletic director tells Thamel that this move could impact the school’s search for a new head coach.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like this,” the athletic director said. “Within the industry, there was an understanding that he’d been cleared. But now with the way the fan base has responded, who will be willing to take that job?”

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Bruce Feldman is reporting that there are talks happening right now between the University of Tennessee and the representatives for Greg Schiano about an exit strategy after the two parties were reportedly nearing an agreement.

According to Feldman, it’s currently a “very volatile situation” after they had been making progress in terms of the paperwork for the agreement.

“They’ve spooked them all,” said a source tells Feldman. “It’s a hot mess.”

After the news surfaced about Schiano and Tennessee, protests began to break out and have clearly impacted the completion of a deal.

We’ll have more regarding Tennessee and Schiano as the news is available.

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Dan Wolken of USA Today is reporting that the University of Tennessee is finalizing contract details with Ohio State DC Greg Schiano to serve as their next head coach.

According to Wolken, Tennessee is hoping to have an announcement regarding Schiano at some point later on in the day.

This comes after a report surfaced this morning that Tennessee has been in talks with Jon Gruden regarding their head-coaching vacancy and were discussing a deal worth $10 million (NFLTR).

Schiano, 51, began his college coaching career back in 1989 as a graduate assistant for Rutgers. Since then, Schiano worked at Penn State, Miami and for the Chicago Bears before he was hired as the Buccaneers head coach in 2012.

Schiano lasted two seasons in Tampa Bay before he was fired by the Buccaneers.

After a few years out of college, Schiano was hired to run Ohio State’s defense last year.

During his 11 years as Rutgers head coach, Schiano posted a record of 68-67 (50.4 percent) to go along with six bowl game appearances.