Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Associated Press
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Rutgers coach Greg Schiano will stay with the school he led to national prominence this season, rather than pursue taking over the troubled Miami program.
"This is where I want to be. This is the job I want to have," Schiano said Monday.
Schiano, Miami's defensive coordinator in 1999 and 2000, said he told Hurricanes athletic director Paul Dee on Sunday night that he was not a candidate to become their head coach.
Miami coach Larry Coker was fired after going 6-6 in the regular season.
Schiano has orchestrated No. 16 Rutgers' rise from one of the nation's lowliest programs in the past six seasons. At 10-2 (5-2 Big East), the Scarlet Knights are heading to a Texas Bowl matchup against Kansas State.
Rutgers narrowly missed the Bowl Championship Series by losing Saturday night in triple overtime at West Virginia.
"We're just scratching the surface here at Rutgers," Schiano said. "The sky's the limit. We're going to do great things here. We haven't done it yet."
Last year, Schiano led Rutgers to its first winning season (7-5) since 1992, and its first bowl berth since 1978.
Schiano did not discuss his current contract and declined to say whether he was signing a new one. He made $191,000 last year before athletic director Robert Mulcahy gave him a seven-year extension that will max out at $350,000 - but only if he stays until 2012.
The extension raised Schiano's annual income from private sources from $325,000 to $625,000.
Schiano recently has said he wants Rutgers to commit to upgrading its facilities, particularly its 41,500-seat stadium. On Monday he said that school officials "are all on the same page with what we want to build here."
"We just need to keep moving forward. There are people committed at Rutgers to taking it to the level we're talking about. That's what's important to me," he said.