Though I’d have opted for Vivian Stringer, the Wolverines could’ve chosen far worse. From the Newark Star-Ledger’s Tom Lucci :

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin “for quite a while” Wednesday in New York City to discuss the Big Ten school’s coaching vacancy, according to a person who speaks regularly with Schiano.

Michigan has yet to seek formal permission to speak with Schiano, but athletic director Bob Mulcahy said Schiano’s agent, Bryan Harlan, “asked for permission to meet” with Martin.

“I have not heard anything formally from Michigan, yet,” Mulcahy said.

Schiano, out recruiting all day yesterday, did not return messages left on his voice mail, nor did he respond to text messages left on his cell. Martin was in New York City for the annual College Football Hall of Fame Banquet. He has been looking for a coach since Lloyd Carr resigned at the end of the season, effective after Michigan faces Florida in the Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1.

A year ago, Schiano turned down a reported $2.2 million annual offer from Miami, where he served as the school’s defensive coordinator prior to coming to Rutgers seven years ago. Schiano then signed a four-year extension through 2016 that will pay him $1.7 million annually.

Though Rutgers recently saw its ambitious $100 million stadium expansion plans stall, only to be jump-started slightly by Gov. Corzine’s personal pledge of $1 million, the setback isn’t believed to be the driving force in Schiano willingly listening to another major school’s offer for the second straight December. It’s the lure of Michigan.