Greg Schiano accepted the Tennessee head coaching job in December but he also declined other offers elsewhere, according to Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
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Schiano arrived at Ohio State after the 2015 season as the Buckeyes' associate head coach and defensive coordinator, his first coordinator job in more than 15 years after being Rutgers' head coach from 2001-11 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach from 2012-13. (Schiano was volunteer assistant at Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Fla. from 2014-15).
Since his return to college football, the now-51-year-old has been the subject of constant coaching rumors and was slated to take the Tennessee job until an on-campus revolt from the fan base. He is in back Columbus for at least another year under Meyer, who this week discussed Schiano's job status, among other things during his National Signing Day press conference.
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"Coach Schiano, just like last year, he turned down a handful of head coaching opportunities in college," Meyer said. "Multiple opportunities, again, in the National Football League this year."
Last summer, Meyer said Schiano turned down two schools, one of which was believed to Oregon, who fired Mark Helfrich and eventually hired Willie Taggart.
"Me and him are kind of built in the same — we don't use that to try to leverage people or try to — we — that's zero conversation in the media," Meyer added. "It's between myself and him, and then obviously, [athletics director] Gene Smith is very involved. I can — at least a dozen opportunities Coach Schiano's had. And we had many, many discussions and he's informed me that he's 100 percent staying at Ohio State University. So that's done and he's here."
