M Club wrote:we've been turned down by the coach at rutgers, . . .
Of course, this doesn't tell the whole story. It's been pretty well-documented that Schiano's dream job is Penn State, and going to Michigan now probably would have precluded him going to Penn State in the next five years or so. I realize that Michigan fan might be a little taken aback that a coach his school coveted would prefer one of the Big Ten's junior partners, but as we've discussed before, you have to take a coach's subjective wishes into consideration in evaluating this. For instance, Bob Davie would have preferred Texas A&M to Notre Dame given a choice between the two, and his concerns may have been quite valid from a subjective standpoint. But that doesn't make Texas A&M more of a destination job than Notre Dame.
For that matter, I think you can definitely make an argument that Ferentz turning down Michigan is or would be a bigger insult than Schiano turning down Michigan. Unlike Schiano, Ferentz doesn't have ambitions to coach at a different place (except the NFL, if you believe NOJ, and I don't think the Michigan job would preclude him from pursuing that). Also (and I realize this will bring NOJ into the discussion with a vengeance), I think you can make the argument that
right now, Rutgers is a better program than Iowa (note that I'm talking about the current state of the respective programs, so I'm not bringing history and tradition into the discussion). As Killian pointed out in another thread, the Big East is essentially a new conference, and the power gradations between its members haven't been worked out yet from a traditional standpoint. Rutgers is the only 1-A, ERRR, FBS, school located in a state which is traditionally rich in high school talent. In the extremely unlikely (and even more ill-advised) event that the NCAA ever adopted the Schmick Rule, Rutgers would become a national power immediately and for the foreseeable future. As it is, if you can convince some of the top players in the state to stay closer to home rather than going to Penn State, Notre Dame, Miami, Nebraska, tOSU, Michigan or some of the other schools that have had success raiding the state, you have the potential for a really nice program. Iowa, by contrast, has the potential to have an eye-popping year every now and then, such as in '02, but for the most part will be relegated to the second tier of its conference. Given a choice between the two schools, I'd definitely rather have the Rutgers job.