Feb 17, 2007 3 min read

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – On the heels of historic back-to-back bowl seasons, Rutgers on Friday rewarded football coach Greg Schiano with a four-year contract extension that will increase his annual pay by nearly a half. It was the second time in less than two years that the school extended Schiano’s contract – he had received a seven-year extension in December 2005. The new deal runs through 2016 and increases his annual compensation package from about $1 million to $1.5 million.

A former assistant at Miami, Schiano was rumored to be the top candidate to replace fired Larry Coker there, but took his name out of consideration in December. It was around that time that Rutgers officials approached him, he said.

Schiano almost certainly would have made more money at Miami, which was paying Coker about $2 million annually.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that our university didn’t want to be the very best,” Schiano said. “There’s a committed group of people who want to take the program to the very top. Certainly it’s not a money issue, because if it was a money issue I wouldn’t be here. This is where I want to be.”

Schiano, hired in 2000, orchestrated Rutgers’ rise from one of the nation’s worst programs to a top-10 team last season. He led the Scarlet Knights to their first bowl appearance in 27 years in 2005 and its first-ever bowl win last season.

Last season, Rutgers won its first nine games, rose to a highest-ever No. 7 ranking in The Associated Press poll and defeated Kansas State 37-10 in the Texas Bowl. The Scarlet Knights finished 11-2 and were within a triple-overtime loss at West Virginia of playing in a BCS bowl.

Rutgers went 7-5 and reached the Insight Bowl in 2005. In the eight seasons before Schiano arrived, Rutgers was 9-46-1 in the Big East. In the last two seasons they were 9-5 in the conference.

“What Greg has accomplished in his six years at Rutgers is truly one of the outstanding coaching efforts in college football history,” said athletic director Robert E. Mulcahy III, who hired Schiano and gave him a two-year extension in 2002 even though Rutgers had lost 20 of 23 games in Schiano’s first two seasons.

Schiano’s base pay will increase from $250,000 to $450,000 for the next two seasons, and he’ll then get $500,000 in 2009 and 2010 and $550,000 for each of the next six seasons. He will also earn between $950,000 and $1.05 million per year in guaranteed additional payments and receive an interest-free $800,000 house loan that will be paid by the university in $100,000 increments for each year he remains at Rutgers.

Schiano can buy himself out of the contract for amounts starting at $1 million for next season and decreasing to $250,000 in the contract’s final year.

Rutgers returns 13 starters for next season including Heisman Trophy candidate Ray Rice, who rushed for a school-record 1,794 yards last season; junior quarterback Mike Teel and All-American defensive tackle Eric Foster.

The Scarlet Knights recently released a schedule that includes eight games at Rutgers Stadium, where they were 6-0 last season.

“I chose to stay here because I think we can be the best of any program in the country,” Schiano said. “If I didn’t think we had chance to be the very best, I wouldn’t have stayed. I feel more strongly about that today than I ever have.”