Tampa Bay Buccaneers Hiring Greg Schiano?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to hire Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano as their next head coach, according to a report.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Thursday that the Bucs plan to hire Schiano and that the two sides are currently working to finalize a deal. He also reported that Schiano had previously interviewed with the Rams

This is the second move that the Bucs have made that has completely shocked the NFL and college football ranks. The organization intended to hire Oregon's Chip Kelly and was close to finalizing a deal before the offensive mastermind decided that his heart was still in college football.

His heart is with college football and Oregon and he's no longer being considered,'' Bucs general manager Mark Dominik told the Tampa Bay Times.

The Bucaneers are the last team in the NFL with a coaching vacancy, but appeared to have settled on Rutgers' Schiano. The head coach at New Jersey's state university since 2001, Schiano guided the scarlet Knights to a 68-67 record.

At the time that he accepted the position, Rutgers was one of the absolute worst Division-1 programs in the country, but Schiano has built up the program to respectability.

The timing of Schiano's decision to leave Rutgers, if the report is true, is a bit puzzling. He is bringing in one of the best recruiting classes in Rutgers history this year and even recently indicated that he wasn't interested in jumping to the NFL.

After Peter King mentioned on the Dan Patrick Show that he'd be a good NFL coach, two sources close to Schiano told the Newark Star-Ledger that he has expressed no interest in a possible return to the NFL.

The 45-year old Schiano made $2.5 million per year with Rutgers. He will be replacing Raheem Morris, who was fired after losing 10 straight games to end the year.