Greg Schiano: Buccaneers Coach Shows True Colors Skipping Paterno Funeral

They came out in droves to pay their respects to Joe Paterno—friends, family, former players and coaches.

Among the absentees, though, was Greg Schiano, who spent six years as a graduate assistant and a defensive backs coach at Penn State under JoePa.

And what, pray tell, was Schiano's excuse for missing Paterno's funeral? Why, money, of course!

Well, not strictly money, but a newer, "better" job, one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

According to NJ.com, Schiano canceled his trip to State College to attend Paterno's laying to rest, opting instead to continue negotiations to become the Bucs' next head coach. ESPN was the first to report that Schiano had signed a five-year deal to coach in Tampa after spending 11 years at Rutgers.

Schiano's move to the NFL is eyebrow-raising enough in its own right. His decision to rush into the pros, at the expense of saying goodbye to JoePa, is worthy of far more disdain than any mundane facial expression could possibly convey.

Schiano went so far as to release a statement on Paterno's passing this past weekend, saying of the legendary coach:

"

Joe Paterno embodied the way college football was supposed to be. He educated young men by using the game of football, along with all of its challenges, in preparation for the real world. He was a great thinker, who was never afraid to say and act on what he believed. He leaves a tremendous legacy with the thousands of players and coaches he worked with. I will miss him deeply. My prayers are with Sue and the entire Paterno family.

"

Glowing words, to be sure, though his actions still speak louder. Were the negotiations between the two parties so intense, was the need for a decision so imminent, that Schiano couldn't have asked the Bucs for another day? Surely, there are some folks in the organization who are more than familiar with Paterno and would've granted Schiano that much leeway.

Especially if they wanted him to be Raheem Morris' replacement, which it now appears that they absolutely did.

Schiano couldn't have picked a worse time to leave the collegiate ranks in New Jersey for an NFL gig in Florida. With national signing day just around the corner, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will have to scramble in search of a new head coach if they're to hold onto what had been shaping up to be the best recruiting class in school history.

Of course, between loading up his bank account and not saying "so long" to JoePa, Schiano couldn't have been bothered to tell his own assistants and recruits that he wouldn't be around. According to ESPN, Schiano was supposed to join some of his coaches on a recruiting trip to Don Bosco Preparatory High School in Ramsey, N.J. on Thursday morning but never showed.

Nor did he so much as call anyone to let them know he wouldn't be able to make, since, you know, he was taking another job and all.

That's not to say Schiano owed it to his players, coaches and recruits to keep them filled in every step of the way. Negotiations tend to be fragile, and it'd be foolish of him to let the proverbial cat out of the bag before all was said and done.

But after the fact? Not one word, Greg?

Then again, given that Schiano put his own professional aspirations before the passing of his mentor, it should come as little surprise that he'd leave everyone at Rutgers eating his dust, too.

In any case, best of luck to Greg Schiano in the NFL. Given the past experiences of status seekers like Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino and the swath of bad karma coming his way, he'll need plenty of it.

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