It didn’t matter that there was no proof, that the allegations — more than 20 years old — were unsubstantiated, that there never were charges of any sort brought.
Tennessee fans were furious with the hiring of Greg Schiano, and they made enough noise, created enough chaos, threw enough nasty accusations at him on Twitter to force their athletic department to kill the deal.
In a matter of hours, Schiano landed an SEC head-coaching job, had his name dragged through the mud for his connection to Jerry Sandusky and lost that job. Schiano allegedly was connected to Sandusky and the Penn State child sex abuse scandal because he was an assistant coach at the school in the 1990s.
On Sunday evening, ESPN reported Tennessee had backed out of a memorandum of understanding with Schiano, an unprecedented move after initially coming to an agreement to hire the Ohio State defensive coordinator and former Rutgers and Buccaneers head coach.
Their decision was in direct response to an all-out fan revolt over the hire that included several Tennessee politicians who either went on Twitter or released statements to voice their displeasure. Opponents cited Schiano’s time at Penn State, where he worked under Sandusky, who was convicted of child molestation in 2012, and the accusation Schiano saw Sandusky acting inappropriately with a child and said nothing about it. There was a protest on Tennessee’s campus. An iconic rock on which students frequently paint different messages featured the line: “Schiano covered up child rape at Penn State.”
State Rep. Eddie Smith tweeted “a Greg Schiano hire would be anathema to all that our University and our community stand for.” Tennessee state Rep. Jeremy Faison said: “We don’t need a man who has that type of potential reproach in their life as the highest-paid state employee.”
Suddenly, Tennessee athletics is the face of morality, a school that agreed to a $2.48 million settlement of a federal lawsuit after a group of women sued the university for how it handled allegations of sexual assault by its student-athletes.
There is no proof Schiano knew of Sandusky’s behavior. It’s secondhand hearsay in the wake of a 2015 deposition by whistleblower and former Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary, the star witness in the criminal trials against Sandusky. He claimed, during a civil suit between Penn State and its insurance company over the liability of payouts to Sandusky victims in 2015, that assistant coach Tom Bradley said Schiano went to him in the early 1990s “white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry doing something to a boy in the shower.” That was it in the transcripts released in 2016. Schiano’s name never came up in any of the interviews McQueary did with law enforcement.
Schiano denied the accusations. Bradley’s lawyers also denied it. Schiano never has faced any charges. The story didn’t surface in Penn State’s internal investigation, run by former FBI director Louis Freeh. Schiano never has been sued by any victims for not reporting the abuse. No one, besides McQueary, has said Schiano witnessed an inappropriate act, and McQueary never saw it for himself.
But Tennessee fans went after Schiano, most likely because they didn’t want him to be their next coach because they have an out-of-touch view of their program.
The Volunteers last won double-digit games in 2007. They last won 11 games in a season in 2001, their last top-10 finish. Their record over the previous 10 seasons is a woeful 64-63. You know what program that’s similar to? Rutgers, which is 63-65 in that span.
Tennessee needed Greg Schiano, who went 68-67 in 11 seasons as Rutgers’ coach from 2001-11, guiding the Scarlet Knights to six winning campaigns and six bowl games in his last seven seasons there, turning around what can be described only as a floundering program. Instead, its delusional fan base did all it could to prevent him from getting the job, relying on a what amounts to a nasty rumor against Schiano.
Maybe next time the school’s athletic department should tweet out potential hires just to make sure its fans are on board.
Committee hoping for easy answers
If you gave members of the College Football Playoff committee truth serum, they would have to acknowledge rooting for chalk Saturday.
While the SEC and ACC Championship game winners are locks, there is more uncertainty with the Big Ten and Big 12. A loss by either Oklahoma or Wisconsin — or even both — in their respective championship games would create chaos, and force the committee to make some very hard decisions, decisions that come down to a few simple questions:
Is one fewer loss better than fewer quality victories? Does a good loss erase a thin résumé? Does a bad loss eliminate good wins?
Based on how the committee has ranked teams this year, placing the caliber of wins over the amount of losses, Alabama should not reach the playoff. Wisconsin is undefeated but ranked third. When Miami was undefeated, it was ranked below teams with a loss before picking up wins over Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. By choosing Alabama, which will have just one top-20 win, over LSU, it would further illustrate how meaningless the made-for-TV rankings are. The Mississippi State win holds less water after it lost to Ole Miss.
Teams such as Ohio State, Clemson, Miami and Oklahoma all have far superior résumés to Alabama, multiple strong victories, but they do have bad losses, further complicating matters.
If championship weekend goes chalk, you’ll have the four conference winners decide the national championship. The committee has to be rooting for that to happen. Otherwise, mayhem will ensue.
CFP lacks the madness of March
This season has been equal parts thrilling and unpredictable, full of upsets and upstarts. And yet as the most riveting championship weekend in many years nears, it still can’t compare to March in college basketball.
Central Florida is a prime example. The undefeated Knights did everything that can be asked of them, winning each game they played, hammering Big Ten foe Maryland and scheduling Georgia Tech of the ACC. Unfortunately, that game was washed away by Hurricane Irma and wasn’t rescheduled.
However, Central Florida has no shot at the playoff. There are no Cinderella stories in the sport — ever. Scott Frost’s team deserves a chance to play for the national championship. It would be unfair to say the AAC school deserves a shot over the Power 5 programs that will reach the playoff, because of how different the level of opponents are.
There are many arguments for expanding the playoffs to eight teams — it would add only one week and mean one less cupcake for the power conference teams — and Central Florida is the example that ought to be used. Playing in one of the New Year’s Six bowls isn’t nearly enough of a reward.
The Post Top 10
1. Oklahoma (11-1) (Last week: 2)
My favorite to win it all, the Sooners have the best player in the sport, Baker Mayfield, the nation’s fourth-ranked scoring offense and an improving defense — three attributes that should scare anyone in their way.
2. Clemson (11-1) (4)
The last team standing in January is rounding into championship form entering next weekend’s do-or-die ACC title game, winning its last five games by a combined 188-68.
3. Auburn (10-2) (6)
Auburn out-Alabama’d Alabama, putting up 408 yards of offense on the Crimson Tide and even leaving points on the field in a 26-14 romp. But the status of star running back Kerryon Johnson — who suffered a shoulder injury the nature of which has yet to be disclosed — for the SEC title game is in doubt.
4. Georgia (11-1) (7)
The site will be Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, not Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, and the Bulldogs better hope that helps. Because they will have to play a helluva lot better to get by Auburn than the way they performed on Nov. 11 in a 23-point defeat.
5. Wisconsin (12-0) (5)
The questions end Saturday. Either Wisconsin was a byproduct of a marshmallow-soft schedule or it simply beat the teams in its path. The Big Ten showdown with Ohio State will give us an answer.
6. Ohio State (10-2) (8)
The vampires of college football, the Buckeyes refuse to let their playoff hopes die. Even without quarterback J.T. Barrett for the final quarter and a half, they found a way to rally past arch rival Michigan. Knock off Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, and Ohio State belongs in the final four.
7. Alabama (11-1) (1)
Beat up on both sides of the line of scrimmage and committing several costly mistakes, this didn’t look like Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide.
8. Miami (10-1) (3)
The Hurricanes finally got burned. Playing with fire the entire season, at last an inferior opponent, in this case Pittsburgh, didn’t let them off the hook.
9. USC (10-2) (10)
The Trojans were off, but their world changed on Saturday with UCLA hiring Chip Kelly. USC football may have to share Los Angeles soon.
10. Central Florida (11-0) (NR)
Yes, the schedule can’t compare to the nine teams above the Knights, but winning matters, and they belong with everyone on this list.
Dropped out: Notre Dame (9-3)
Heisman Watch
QB Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
After another near flawless performance, 14-of-17 for 281 yards and three touchdowns in a rout of West Virginia, Mayfield should be working on his acceptance speech.
RB Bryce Love, Stanford
Even on one good ankle, Love might be the best running back in the country. At far less than 100 percent, he ran over Notre Dame, amassing 125 yards on 20 carries to pull within 90 yards of 2,000 on the season.
RB Saquon Barkley, Penn State
He finishes the regular season with 21 touchdowns, 1,248 rushing yards and 594 receiving yards — good numbers, but not good enough for Heisman glory.
RB Kerryon Johnson, Auburn
Just another 100-yard performance and a touchdown for the powerhouse junior. Oh, and he did it against Alabama — and while dealing with a shoulder injury.
QB Lamar Jackson, Louisville
He ran for 1,599 yards and 17 touchdowns, threw for 3,849 yards, 25 more scores and just six interceptions while completing 60 percent of his passes. These are video game numbers, made all the more impressive considering the limited talent around the sport’s most dynamic player.