Does it make any sense to fire Schiano right now or wait until the end of the season? If you were AD, what is your plan?

RUboston

All-American
Sep 13, 2002
6,400
9,810
78
People in fact do get information. I just spent 4 hours with Keli’s husband in a golf cart lol.

Im not going to post much about but it was interesting. Zinns are too classy to say it but man, the more that comes out about Hobbs the worse he gets.
Gee who could have foreseen that hiring a tax attorney, Seton Hall grad, and Dean of Seton Hall Law School to run a Big Ten athletic department was not a great idea. How Hobbs got totally hoodwinked in 2023 into giving GS an extension into 2030 after a 6-6 season that included a blowout season ending loss to MD, and blowout losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa is beyond me. We beat a heavily depleted Miami team in the Pinstripe Bowl, big deal.

Hobbs is the gift that keeps on giving, and will end up costing Rutgers $$$$ millions.
 

rosenst2

Junior
Nov 6, 2021
168
223
43
My gut feeling is the team would play worse the rest of the season if he were fired this week.

That said they may want to send a message and also save 500K so they might do it now.
 

Anon1753410373

Freshman
Jul 24, 2025
115
87
28
Greg has really thrown Zinn, Tate & Rutgers into a terrible situation with a complete dud of a season. Objectively, this year’s schedule was very manageable. Obviously UMass and BC were supposed to be wins. USC proving they’re not performing to their preseason hype. Michigan and Penn State in coaching transitions and not looking so hot. No OSU or Oregon. Indiana proving to be the only powerhouse the schedule, and we’re still falling on our face.

This was supposed to be a year to buy some time and let Zinn raise more money, while expecting to be at least poor-to-mediocre. Instead we’re Ash-level embarrassing bad, which forces Zinn/Tate into a situation they may not be financially prepared for. We’ll see what happens, but Greg has really shat the bed.

This - in fact with the NIL available it was supposed to be the flagship for the Rutgers resurgence.…it was Pike who was supposed to be on the hot seat and maybe get fired. Said in the game thread - GS making Kelli’s decision easy but her job impossible.


Put the man out of his misery, you don't let wounded animals linger. It's embarrassing

What’s the difference in the buyout if fired today vs end of season?
 

RU#1fan

Heisman
Mar 7, 2003
24,109
12,726
113
Has to go now…. The program is spiraling into the abyss and cemented itself as the Laughingstock of the country . Rutgers needs to show they are serious about major College Football or else get out altogether. Waiting until December results in recruits leaving, potential candidates gone, and collapse of any remaining fan base.
 

RuBird

Heisman
Jun 28, 2001
19,137
24,812
113
If you have a person in mind already not coaching (Kelly) you do it immediately.

1. Helps stabilize recruiting.
2. waiting until the end of the season means you stand in line with other schools wanting new coach. What makes Rutgers more desirable?
3. Try to save the fanbase by sending a message that we do care. Anyone see how empty the stadium was after halftime? Embarrassing.
 

Fat Koko

All-Conference
Nov 28, 2022
4,564
4,027
73
Rutgers needs to be careful how they go about Greg's firing.

• Keli fired Coquese with ease, a simple without cause termination of a coach who wasn't performing.

• Keli fired Hobbs' long-time #2 Michael Szul under different circumstances. Szul joined Rutgers in 2017, ran and mismanaged the department's finances for years, and before Szul joined Rutgers he overlapped with Keli for several years in WVU's athletic department. Keli joined Rutgers in August 2025 and promptly met with Szul to inform him she intended to fire him. Following negotiations, Rutgers and Szul agreed to continue his employment until December 31, 2025, when Szul would resign. During his last months, Szul had the title of Special Advisor to the Athletic Director, had a job description, and was required to work from home to do it.

• In May 2025, before Keli joined, Rutgers fired Umme the gymnastics coach. Rutgers fired Umme for cause, meaning Umme would not be paid the remaining $550,000 Umme was owed if Rutgers fired her without cause. Rutgers should have known Umme would sue them - and Umme promptly sued Rutgers. This case continues, Rutgers will spend 6 or 7 figures on legal fees, plus another 6 or 7 figures on a settlement with Umme. Moreover, gymnasts who participated in the $700,000 Rutgers investigation of the program are being dragged into the Umme vs Rutgers litigation. Rutgers botched this firing badly. Should have fired Umme without cause and moved on.

My guess is Rutgers follows the Szul approach with Greg. Rutgers and Greg quietly agree this week that Greg finishes the season and is terminated without cause promptly after the season-ending Michigan State game on November 28, 2026. Under this scenario, Greg we be owed $18.6 million paid bi-weekly through February 2030. No doubt this news would leak before Rutgers formally announces it.
 

Shelby65

All-Conference
Apr 1, 2008
8,682
4,842
66
No I don't. Does anyone who wants him fired? Everyone should want him fired now. The people that don't are part of the problem. Obviously we wont know the candidates till the winter but a good program should have an idea of who they are considering. That's how winning programs work.
That’s how losing programs work too, at least those that want to be winning programs. Rutgers is not one of them. That’s why he’s the coach in the first place.
 

Shelby65

All-Conference
Apr 1, 2008
8,682
4,842
66
Greg has really thrown Zinn, Tate & Rutgers into a terrible situation with a complete dud of a season. Objectively, this year’s schedule was very manageable. Obviously UMass and BC were supposed to be wins. USC proving they’re not performing to their preseason hype. Michigan and Penn State in coaching transitions and not looking so hot. No OSU or Oregon. Indiana proving to be the only powerhouse the schedule, and we’re still falling on our face.

This was supposed to be a year to buy some time and let Zinn raise more money, while expecting to be at least poor-to-mediocre. Instead we’re Ash-level embarrassing bad, which forces Zinn/Tate into a situation they may not be financially prepared for. We’ll see what happens, but Greg has really shat the bed.
No, internally there’s no issue. They’re all in vertical alignment, remember ? What The Grifter isn’t telling you is that accepting losing is the alignment. That’s why he’s safe.
 

Fat Koko

All-Conference
Nov 28, 2022
4,564
4,027
73
People in fact do get information. I just spent 4 hours with Keli’s husband in a golf cart lol.

Im not going to post much about but it was interesting. Zinns are too classy to say it but man, the more that comes out about Hobbs the worse he gets.
I was first on TKR to call for Hobbs to go. This was an out-of-consensus take at the time.

Flashback:

January 12, 2024 - Failing gymnastics coach's dodgy contract exposed by Fat Koko who sees a rotten situation nobody else does
January 17, 2024 - "I’m not a fan of Hobbs’ coach-for-life approach to coaches’ contracts" - Fat Koko
March 22, 2024 - "Rutgers needs an athletic director change" - Fat Koko
March 22, 2024 - "That's a wildly insane take" - Richie O responded
August 15, 2024 - Pat resigns, TKR posters call for Fat Koko to be banned. "Your long overdue ban should be enacted." "Pull the trigger already Richie O.
 

Shelby65

All-Conference
Apr 1, 2008
8,682
4,842
66
Now, give you more time to look for replacement.
Speaking of time, what most fans don’t understand is that program building takes time. Decades in fact. The Keep Choppin’ motto is brilliant. The same commercials where he only says that have only been around 20 years. In another 20 years of the same message we will absolutely challenge for an upset possibility and a Top 50 ranking.
 

RUChet

All-Conference
Apr 8, 2023
2,990
3,742
113
That’s the issue. Too many “losers “ accepting lower expectations as being a good thing. Clueless. And in no universe is Clown Schiano winning 3 more games this season.
Agree like these know not all posters that says “nobody can win here except Greg”…except Greg doesn’t consistently win here.

1 great season in 18
2 very good ones with 9 wins
Losing record overall
<30% winning in B1G
No ranked team win since 2007?

Indiana has as bad of a history as we do intil they got Cigs
 
  • Like
Reactions: jsol_05

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
197,999
150,441
113
Gee who could have foreseen that hiring a tax attorney, Seton Hall grad, and Dean of Seton Hall Law School to run a Big Ten athletic department was not a great idea. How Hobbs got totally hoodwinked in 2023 into giving GS an extension into 2030 after a 6-6 season that included a blowout season ending loss to MD, and blowout losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa is beyond me. We beat a heavily depleted Miami team in the Pinstripe Bowl, big deal.

Hobbs is the gift that keeps on giving, and will end up costing Rutgers $$$$ millions.
He’s already cost it millions. Again, I’m not going to get into too much but our financial picture is going to look much better next year and really take off from there. We are talking low hanging fruit stuff that Hobbs wasn’t even doing. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even using many of the few partners he did cultivate for services. Really stupid ****.

Another area we need to tap into is the U marketing deals that they keep almost 100% of the money. It’s embarrassing what athletics gets from our beverage deal. No other school operates that way.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Leonard23

Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
197,999
150,441
113
Has to go now…. The program is spiraling into the abyss and cemented itself as the Laughingstock of the country . Rutgers needs to show they are serious about major College Football or else get out altogether. Waiting until December results in recruits leaving, potential candidates gone, and collapse of any remaining fan base.
Losing Schiano recruits might end up being good thing for the next coach. They are going to want to get as far away from the Schiano stench as possible
 
  • Like
Reactions: BoogieKnight

AdventureHasAName

All-Conference
Mar 1, 2022
1,795
1,960
113
Has to go now…. The program is spiraling into the abyss and cemented itself as the Laughingstock of the country . Rutgers needs to show they are serious about major College Football or else get out altogether. Waiting until December results in recruits leaving, potential candidates gone, and collapse of any remaining fan base.

Rutgers is never getting out of major college football. It's the only reason we are in the Big 10 (which brings all kinds of non-sports benefits to the university).
 

Fat Koko

All-Conference
Nov 28, 2022
4,564
4,027
73
He’s already cost it millions. Again, I’m not going to get into too much but our financial picture is going to look much better next year and really take off from there. We are talking low hanging fruit stuff that Hobbs wasn’t even doing. To make matters worse, he wasn’t even using many of the few partners he did cultivate for services. Really stupid ****.

Another area we need to tap into is the U marketing deals that they keep almost 100% of the money. It’s embarrassing what athletics gets from our beverage deal. No other school operates that way.
Current catering deal sends a percentage of gross sales of beverages at SHI and RAC to Rutgers, none to athletics. Let's see if that changes. FYI - I checked LSU and it is the same, the concession money from the athletic venues goes to the university, not the athletics department. But LSU gets a larger cut of venue concession sales than Rutgers.

Last month, Rutgers signed a signage agreement with Valley Bank for football and basketball games. Any guess if this money goes straight to Keli?
 
Last edited:

Rutgers Chris

All-American
Nov 29, 2005
5,814
7,007
97
He spent 15 to 20 million on last year's roster. How much of a piggy bank are we giving to a new coach to spend (on top of his own salary, staff salary and Schiano buyout)?
You’re missing the point. Cig made the playoffs the year before, 11-2 with transfers and a patchwork roster. Coaching was the driver. Then came the real NIL money and the star roster
 

rutgersguy2

All-Conference
Jul 9, 2025
4,362
2,199
112
You’re missing the point. Cig made the playoffs the year before, 11-2 with transfers and a patchwork roster. Coaching was the driver. Then came the real NIL money and the star roster
I’ve posted the article here in the past and have said as much. Cuban basically said during the playoff run of Cignetti year 1 is when he gave his first donation at the end of that year. It was like one of his shark tank investments, want to see proof of concept first so to speak and then the money comes second.

Cignetti’s first IU contract was for 4M/yr, the same thing we paid Schiano on his first deal. Does that give the aura of oodles of money flowing all over the place when he first arrived.

From the article:

But he had never donated directly to IU athletics until that Friday night in South Bend last December.

"I gave some to sports this year for the first time ever," Cuban told CBS Sports. "Typically, I was the exact opposite. I'm not a fan of anything that I believe raises tuition in the least bit. But after getting to talk to Cig and seeing what was going on, they kinda talked me into it.

The fact that Cig has said I win everywhere I go, I didn't believe him, but he showed it against all odds, he proved that he was a true Yinzer,
 
Last edited:

Section124

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
17,490
23,465
96
Gee who could have foreseen that hiring a tax attorney, Seton Hall grad, and Dean of Seton Hall Law School to run a Big Ten athletic department was not a great idea. How Hobbs got totally hoodwinked in 2023 into giving GS an extension into 2030 after a 6-6 season that included a blowout season ending loss to MD, and blowout losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa is beyond me. We beat a heavily depleted Miami team in the Pinstripe Bowl, big deal.

Hobbs is the gift that keeps on giving, and will end up costing Rutgers $$$$ millions.
Hobbs never wanted Schiano in the first place. So it was a great FU to Rutgers by him. He gave the Schiano fans boys what they wanted and now the program is essentially dead as a result.
 

Section124

Heisman
Dec 21, 2002
17,490
23,465
96
Agree like these know not all posters that says “nobody can win here except Greg”…except Greg doesn’t consistently win here.

1 great season in 18
2 very good ones with 9 wins
Losing record overall
<30% winning in B1G
No ranked team win since 2007?

Indiana has as bad of a history as we do intil they got Cigs
Correction. Greg never had a “great” season. We ended up with 2 losses. Hardly great. More a huge letdown.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Caliknight

RU#1fan

Heisman
Mar 7, 2003
24,109
12,726
113
Hobbs never wanted Schiano in the first place. So it was a great FU to Rutgers by him. He gave the Schiano fans boys what they wanted and now the program is essentially dead as a result.
Yeah right…. That’s why Hobbs would run down to Schiano’s Office for meetings.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Knight Shift

Knight Shift

Heisman
May 19, 2011
91,177
89,336
113
Gee who could have foreseen that hiring a tax attorney, Seton Hall grad, and Dean of Seton Hall Law School to run a Big Ten athletic department was not a great idea. How Hobbs got totally hoodwinked in 2023 into giving GS an extension into 2030 after a 6-6 season that included a blowout season ending loss to MD, and blowout losses to Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa is beyond me. We beat a heavily depleted Miami team in the Pinstripe Bowl, big deal.

Hobbs is the gift that keeps on giving, and will end up costing Rutgers $$$$ millions.
Has nothing to do with his background, and did you forget the person Hobbs replaced was eminently qualified having been the #2 or 3 person at Louisville? How did that work out for Rutgers. Pat had experience as acting AD at Seton Hall, and he also had solid political connections to get RU state money for building projects.

He had a good run until he wandered off course with extracurricular activities and was stanchly against NIL, setting Rutgers back several years.

As far as hiring Greg and his extension, that was less his choice and more doing what he was told to do or required to do to keep his job.

Had he been raising NIL and doing his job, he might have been able to put up more of a fight. Had less to do with him being an attorney and more to do with misplaced priorities.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Section124
The Knight Report

Latest

  1. 01 The Knight Report Rutgers Football versus Maryland Game Time Announced
  2. 02 The Knight Report Join The Knight Report TODAY and get it for 60% off!
  3. 03 The Knight Report Football Every throw from Rutgers Football Quarterbacks versus Indiana
  4. 04 The Knight Report Rutgers Football PFF Grades + Snap Counts versus Indiana
  5. 05 The Knight Report Football Hope or fool's gold? Curt Cignetti explains how Rutgers can replicate national champs