As Greg Schiano’s future hangs in balance, Rutgers fans have minds made up: ‘We need a change’
· Yahoo Sports
SHI Stadium was half-empty as Rutgers hosted a Big Ten blueblood, but those who made the trek to Piscataway made their voices heard.
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There were loud, sustained boos following a controversial call from the officials. There was a jubilant celebration as the final minutes of a close game ticked off the clock. There were frequent chants to fire an underperforming coach.
The problem for the Scarlet Knights: all of that noise came from the visiting Michigan fans.
Along with a 28-21 win on the field, the Wolverines (5-3, 2-3) blew out Rutgers (2-6, 1-4) in the stands on Saturday.
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Michigan fans made up at least half of a crowd that was announced at 39,540, the lowest official attendance at SHI Stadium for a non-COVID Big Ten game since head coach Greg Schiano returned in the 2020 season. Despite their team stumbling through a mediocre season, Michigan fans brought plenty of life into a moribund building.
Rutgers fans, meanwhile, spoke with their absence.
“I really don’t worry about things I can’t control,” Schiano said following the game. “I have enough of my own issues that I have to work on. I just try to do that. As I’ve always told you guys, I’m grateful for the ones that came, because those people, they’re supporting us through thick and thin. We’ve had thick here and we’re a little bit thin right now.”
Two years removed from reaching a second straight bowl game and appearing to be on an upward trajectory, the Scarlet Knights are barreling toward their worst record of Schiano’s second stint after going 5-7 last fall.
After getting upset by UMass, beaten by Boston College, fall short against USC and get blown out by Northwestern and Indiana — with wins over FCS Howard and last-place Maryland in between — Rutgers will need to win two of their final four games to match the 4-8 mark of the 2022 season. They are projected to be underdogs in their next three games (at Wisconsin, vs. Nebraska, at Penn State).
Rutgers has one of the worst defenses in the country again, and despite having two of the best skill players in college football in wide receiver KJ Duff and running back Antwan Raymond, its offense is mediocre, ranking 73rd nationally in points per game.
The Scarlet Knights, who are 7-13 overall since the start of the 2025 season, have lost their last four Big Ten home games and they are 3-9 in their last 12 conference games in Piscataway. They have lost 24 of their last 28 games as underdogs of more than a field goal, have not defeated a ranked opponent in 17 years and have not been ranked in 14 years.
Barring a shocking 4-0 finish to the regular season, Rutgers will miss a bowl game — the minimum tangible mark for the improvement that athletic director Keli Zinn said she wanted to see from last fall — for a second straight year.
The piling losses — particularly the shocking 16-point defeat to the Minutemen — and poor play have put Schiano’s job into question. He is on one of the hottest seats in college football, and now, even the most loyal fans are calling for Rutgers to move on from the winningest coach in program history.
“I love the guy. I have pictures of him handing us pizza (before the 2006 Louisville game). But we need a change,” Vijay Ahlawat, a Class of 2010 alum and 12-year season ticket holder, told NJ.com from his tailgate in the yellow lot. “It’s time. It’s played its course. ... He came, stabilized the program, got them to a decent level. The last couple of years, we’ve gotten stagnant, and now it’s all fallen apart.”
Rutgers fans surveyed by NJ.com prior to the game against Michigan — both in person and on social media — largely share in Ahlawat’s sentiments, and a close loss to Michigan was not enough to change their opinions. But there is no guarantee that the growing list of fans who want to see change get their wish this offseason.
The Scarlet Knights would have to pay roughly $28 million over the next three years to Schiano ($18 million) and his coaching staff ($10 million) if they make a move — a sizable total for an athletic department that is running a $516 million deficit over the past 11 years and that hopes to expand its football stadium in the near future. The University is also in the middle of contract negotiations with various employee unions.
While not an insurmountable number, it is a major reason for growing momentum behind Schiano’s return during the 2027 season, with multiple people with knowledge of the situation putting the odds of a change at 50/50 with a month remaining in the campaign.
Asked by NJ.com where he believes he stands in his job security, Schiano said Tuesday that he doesn’t “give that any thought.”
“I really don’t,” he said. “I’m focused on Wisconsin, I’m focused on recruiting. I’m focused on the portal, the things that my job entails. And we’re going to be great. I’m excited about the future.”
When Rutgers retained head coach Chris Ash for a fourth season in 2019 despite a 2-10 record the previous season, it sold 16,585 season tickets — a 27% drop from the previous season and 7,678 less than it sold this fall.
Anecdotally, a majority of fans surveyed by NJ.com said that they planned to keep their season tickets through gritted teeth if the Scarlet Knights keep the status quo.
“It’s a placeholder on the calendar,” Steve Cross, a class of 1988 alum who has had season tickets since 1989, told NJ.com. “If Greg was still here, (my tailgate group) would still show up.”
But nothing revealed the fanbase’s current feeling better than the stands at SHI Stadium on Saturday, which had as much maize-and-blue as scarlet.
The most telling moment came in the fourth quarter, when a controversial kick-catch interference penalty on a fair catch prevented a Rutgers turnover. The visiting fans booed for multiple plays, getting so loud on third down that Rutgers had to call a timeout to regroup. Just as boisterous were the chants to fire offensive coordinator Jason Beck when his unit stumbled early in the game, as well as the “Let’s Go Blue!” chants in the final two minutes after the Wolverines clinched the win.
The same scene could play out in Rutgers’ next home game against Nebraska, another blueblood program with a massive fanbase that travels well. The saving grace for the Scarlet Knights is that the Cornhuskers wear red, too.
And unless Rutgers springs an upset, the desire for a clean slate from the home fans will only get stronger.
“The problem is that the guy has had basically 17 years. If it wasn’t for Rutgers the second time around, he probably would not have a head coaching job,” Cross said. “People have to realize — and I think the school has realized — he’s basically had two decades. He’s not the guy.”
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