The last coachless team in the NFC South is coachless no more, according to Adam Schefter, who reports Rutgers Scarlet Knights coach Greg Schiano will be the next coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs must have really wanted a college guy, having sought out Oregon Ducks coach Chip Kelly before being spurned. Schiano and Kelly aren't exactly similar in style, but they've both built fine programs.
Schiano was believed to be a leading candidate for the Penn St. Nittany Lions job, even before Joe Paterno's career ended with the Jerry Sandusky debacle. He has NFL experience, having worked with the Chicago Bears for three years on the defensive side of the ball in the '90s.
What's this mean for the Atlanta Falcons? The Bucs have themselves a coach who's proved to be a stable leader, and not a coach whose success has relied on incredible recruiting. Though he went 68-67 at Rutgers, that's including multiple years of kicking out cobwebs. He took the Knights to five bowl wins in the past six years -- the only five bowl wins in the school's football history. Which is saying something, as they have one of the longest football histories in the nation.
However, he has no NFL head coaching experience, and it's hard to say how this all translates to the pros. Unlike Jim Harbaugh last year, he's not exactly a sure thing.
For more on the parties involved, visit Rutgers blog On the Banks and Bucs blog Bucs Nation.