Greg Schiano excited to add 'historic programs' USC, UCLA to Big Ten

Greg Schiano loves Rutgers and the Big Ten, but the Scarlet Knights coach can’t wait for USC and UCLA to join in 2024.

In football terms, Schiano said it was great to add two historic programs to the conference. Once both leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, the conference will have a full east to west footprint.

That means trips to Piscataway for USC and UCLA but trips to the Rose Bowl and Coliseum for Rutgers.

“For our football league I think it’s great,” Schiano said, via Next Up with Adam Breneman. “Yeah, I’m excited about it. Two great historic programs. I don’t pretend to know all the other implications of it … My job is to make sure we’re getting this football program ready. We have, from being in the NFL, we have strategies on how you travel when you go west. I’m not concerned about any of that.

“I am really excited about having them in the league. It increases our footprint right to have Big Ten football on from noon till when people are going to bed late at night. That’s awesome for the league. So I think overall for Big Ten football it’s tremendous.”

Schiano added that this Big Ten expansion hinted at the new age of college football when it comes to how conferences are divided.

“I think it’s the way of the future,” Schiano said. “I don’t think there’s going to be five conferences and all that. I think you see it kind of shrinking and coming to a pinnacle. Like I said, from 2002, I’ve been trying to get Rutgers into the Big Ten. So I gotta sit here and you know gotta pinch myself sometimes. Now coming off the field after some tough losses against, you know, an Ohio State or somebody else, I go ‘what am I crazy?’ 

“But I still believe that intersection, that elite intersection, sweet spot, as I call it, of academics and athletics. That is the Big Ten and we just added to great historic programs but again, two great academic institutions.”

Rutgers has some work to do to be highly competitive in the Big Ten. After an 8-5 season during the school’s first year (2014), the team hasn’t reached that level since. 

With Schiano back at the helm following his departure in 2011, Rutgers has been up and down. But the Scarlet Knights reached the Gator Bowl in ‘21 following Texas A&M dropping out due to COVID issues. So one can say, they’re right there.

But it’ll be a tough hill to climb with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State in the same division. Not to mention USC and UCLA coming in a year from now.