Schiano Interested in Penn State?

Is Greg Schiano going back to school? According to a report from David Jones of The Patriot-News in central Pennsylvania, the former head honcho of the Rutgers football program is on the short list for the potential opening of the Nittany Lions head coach position. How strong a candidate is Schiano? Not very, according to Jones:

Schiano is not thought to be high on the would-be PSU contingency list.

Good 'ole Greg appears to be third on the list provided by Jones in his article. Mike Munchak is a Penn State grad who was close to getting the job before Bill O'Brien entered the picture. It seems as if Penn State hasn't soured on Munchak one bit, as he looks like the leading candidate.

Vanderbilt's James Franklin has been a hot name for years, and his stock has never been higher after another good season as the Commodore's head coach. Franklin knows the Pennsylvania area and could continue the offensive resurgence at Penn State started by BoB.

That leaves Schiano fairly low on the head coaching radar. Greg might be looking for a job after this Sunday when the Buccaneers season is over, but that doesn't mean he is a shoe-in for the Penn State job. He may have been a former assistant for the Lions, but it seems a lot of pro and college teams have been taken aback by his militaristic coaching style. Furthermore, it's extremely difficult to find any fans of Schiano besides his loyal Rutgers contingent, which seems to be diminishing by the day.

However, it's important to note the other side of this story: that Schiano inquired about the Penn State position on his own accord. Many believed (including yours truly) that he would have some reservations about leading a program in direct competition for recruits and wins with RU. Being in the same division would guarantee annual matchups against the former employer that made him a known commodity, and he would be stealing recruits from his home state school. It would also guarantee a matchup against his old assistant head coach, Kyle Flood, at least for 2014. Based on the information from the article, that doesn't seem to be of any consequence to him.

This is all probably moot to begin with since he's so low on the short list, but it's something to think about as Rutgers transitions to being Penn State's division neighbor. If the move does happen, something tells me that Greg wouldn't get the greatest of receptions on his first trip back to Piscataway.