​PISCATAWAY – Acknowledging that mistakes were made that led to Rutgers football’s disappointing 2026 season, coach Greg Schiano vowed to make the changes necessary to turn the program around this offseason and work in close partnership with athletic director Keli Zinn and her administration.Schiano will get the opportunity to correct those issues after Zinn publicly announced Tuesday, Nov. 10 that the head coach, in his eighth season in his second stint leading the Scarlet Knights, will return in 2027 despite this season’s 2-7 record through the first nine games.After his team’s practice Tuesday, Schiano expressed appreciation for Zinn’s decision as well as the chance to right the program.“She and I have been meeting weekly along with our staffs,” Schiano said. “They’ve been really, really productive. I think we both know what we need to do to get this thing fixed and get it righted. It’s going to take a lot of work hard, but a lot of hard work that I’m excited about.”Schiano declined to go into more specifics about the plan going forward, saying that is a discussion for once the season ends – Rutgers has three more games remaining, starting with this Saturday’s game against Nebraska at SHI Stadium.The Scarlet Knights then play Penn State and wrap up the regular season at home against Michigan State on Nov. 28.Those changes and the path to a better 2027 will then begin immediately.This season has been a disastrous one relative to expectations. It began with a loss to UMass that put Rutgers in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and it continued the following week to a loss to a bad Boston College team.Rutgers since has only beaten FCS-level Howard and Maryland, which is having a terrible season of its own and recently fired former head coach Mike Locksley.“To the fans, to the students, to the alumni, to all our supporters, all our stakeholders, our sponsors, everybody, I get it,” Schiano said. “When they’re frustrated and they’re angry, I’m even more frustrated and angry. It really hurts me, I take it to heart.”Part of building a competitive roster in modern day college football comes down to money – an issue Schiano, who would have been owed about $18 million if the school fired him after this season, never had to deal with throughout his first stint from 2001-11.Schiano had little to work with in the earlier years of his second stint when Name, Image and Likeness began – former athletic director Pat Hobbs essentially ignored the issue, leaving Schiano to have to raise funds on his own, a daunting proposition for a Big Ten football coach.Zinn in the year-plus since being hired has improved the situation. According to a report from The Athletic, Rutgers had a roster budget of between $20 and $23 million, which ranked 14th out of the 18 Big Ten teams.That number will need to increase because the budgets of Rutgers’ Big Ten peers will also continue to increase.“We talk about the roster