The Scarlet Letter

MLive Linkage

BREAKING NEWS: Michigan interviews Schiano The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, sister paper of The Ann Arbor News, reports that Rutgers coach Greg Schiano interviewed today for the Michigan coaching job. The Star-Ledger has Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy confirming the meeting - and saying that Michigan athletic director Bill Martin did not ask for permission to speak to Schiano: Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin "for quite a while" on Wednesday in New York City to discuss the Big Ten school's coaching vacancy, according to a person who speaks regularly with Schiano. Though no official offer has been made, according to the person, one could be forthcoming. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak for Schiano. Michigan has yet to seek formal permission to speak with Schiano, but Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy said Schiano's agent, Bryan Harlan, "asked for permission to meet" with Martin. "I have not heard anything formally from Michigan -- yet," said Mulcahy. The New Brunswick (N.J.) Home News Tribune, a New Jersey paper also has a similar report.

Through the grapevine I heard that Bernie Smilovitz of local Channel 4 fame reported that Schiano accepted an offer, but all the other news outlets have reported an offer has not even been made.

Since Schiano turned down the Miami job last year, the rumors have been he would sit tight in Jersey and wait for JoePa to leave and open up the Penn State job. On the other hand though, Schiano's stock might not get any higher; Rutgers failed to meet expectations this year, and a repeat of this year's 7-5 performance would possibly take some shine off Schiano.

Tom Luicci - the Star-Ledger reporter who initially reported that Michigan had met with Schiano - was just on SportsCenter saying that an offer could be given as soon as tomorrow and that Schiano would seriously consider it.

Developing...