Crunch Time
I was enjoying my Sunday morning until I got a notification from ESPN that the University of Tennessee was about to hire Ohio State’s defensive coordinator Greg Schiano.
Granted, I was happy about three Sundays ago after receiving a notification about Butch Jones being fired. But out of all the candidates that were being talked about in the media about being a possible coach for my Volunteers, this was the worst case scenario for me and I knew it wouldn’t be widely accepted across the fan base.
Let’s give some background on this guy. Before even bringing up the controversial side of him, his coaching record was a lateral move for Tennessee after just letting go of Jones. In head coaching positions, Schiano went 58-57 at Rutgers and was 11-21 in the NFL at Tampa Bay. May I also point out that the guy let Jones’ Cincinnati team put up 69 points against him back in 2010.
Alright, so his coaching wouldn’t really help Tennessee and he has a less than perfect background. Schiano was an assistant coach at Penn State University from 1991-95. Why do those dates look familiar? Oh yeah, that’s right. Jerry Sandusky was there too.
In 2016, the Washington Post reported about a testimony from assistant Mike McQueary that was unsealed by a Philadelphia court. McQueary stated that Schiano and another assistant coach, Tom Bradley, knew that Sandusky was acting improperly with young boys before the law-enforcement was first notified.
“Greg (Schiano) had come into his office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower. And that’s it. That’s all he ever told me,” McQueary said according to the documents unsealed.
And you wonder why the Tennessee fans were against this guy.
I don’t care how good a coach is, if he was involved with Penn State back then, I don’t want him even near a team I support. That is the worst story in the history of college sports.
Besides, an athletic department should be excited to announce a new coach at a press conference and not have to worry about a reporter asking a question about these allegations. It is not worth any time or money.
Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one to feel that way. The campus in Knoxville revolted before any signatures on a dotted line could happen. There were mattresses burning, people protesting around Neyland Stadium and to top it all off, somebody painted “Schiano covered up child rape at Penn State” on the famous art rock on campus.
Tell everyone how you really feel, Vols.
Social media definitely played a part as even state representatives tweeted out their disappointment in the decision and that they were trying to not make it happen. Travis Clay, a writer for Outkick Coverage, had a big hand in it as he encouraged fans to speak against the hire. Clay tweeted a picture of the athletics director’s business card that included his cell phone number and said “Desperate times call for desperate measures. Make his phone blow up and voice your displeasure.”
The protests were heard all the way up to the first-year athletics director John Currie as it was reported that Tennessee had backed out of the deal with Schiano on Sunday night.
Even though some of the media says that Tennessee fans were pitching a fit and that it was all uncalled for, good for the campus of Tennessee to stand up for something that is larger than football.
I am glad to say I am a Volunteer fan and that we don’t support a guy involved with the Penn State story. If the deal went through, I can’t say I would be as proud.
So now we are back to square one and the search for a new coach (and some people also hope a new athletics director) is still on. At this point, I will just be happy with anybody without the last name of Schiano or Jones.
Grace Pohl can be reached at [email protected].
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