Greg Schiano met with Rutgers officials in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday to discuss returning to his old job as head football coach, but that meeting ended without any decision as officials grapple with what one person familiar with the discussions described as his “significant” demands.

The exact nature of those demands are unknown. Schiano met with Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs and Greg Brown, a significant booster and Board of Governors member, for several hours after the university zeroed in on the 53-year-old New Jersey native to rescue a program that has hit rock bottom since his departure.

The news was first reported on NJ.com’s Rutgers Sports Insider.

Schiano is believed to want significant improvements to the football infrastructure in Piscataway, including an indoor practice facility that is a common recruiting tool on every rival Big Ten campus and would likely move the team out the existing headquarters at the Hale Center.

It is likely that any project of that magnitude would need high-level university approval before it can be included in a contract with the coach. The next football coach’s contract will need Board of Governors approval, and the university would presumably need to call for a "special meeting'' to approve any deal.

Rutgers recently upgraded its football locker rooms, weight room and outdoor practice fields with contributions from donors, but the price tag on field houses have soared into nine-digit territory at other conference schools.

That doesn’t mean the facility demands are a deal breaker, but given Rutgers’ recent construction on a multi-team training center and an academic support building, the Scarlet Knights operate with one of the nation’s most heavily subsidized athletics budgets as they still awaits their pot of gold from Big Ten revenue sharing.

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It is also likely that the university is facing an unprecedented number for the coach’s salary and assistant-coaches’ salary pool. Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck, a Schiano protege, signed a new seven-year, $33.25 million contract this week to catapult his 2020 salary to $4.6 million. That still won’t put Fleck, who has the Golden Gophers at 8-0, in the top five in the conference.

Several key boosters had hoped negotiations with Schiano could wrap up in time for a major announcement during the university’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first intercollegiate football game between Rutgers and Princeton.

Rutgers will hold three events on Wednesday — two open to the public, one by invite only — to commemorate the university’s role as the birthplace of the sport.

Schiano hasn’t been a college head coach since leaving Rutgers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2011. Still, with heavy support from donors and a lack of other attractive candidates, he holds significant bargaining power in any negotiations.

The Scarlet Knights haven’t been to a bowl game since 2014, and Schiano is the heavy favorite among fans polled by NJ Advance Media on the search in recent weeks. From 2005 through 2011, Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to bowl games in six of seven seasons and compiled a 56-33 (.629) record during that span while producing dozens of NFL players.

The backup plan is believed to be former Cincinnati and Tennessee coach Butch Jones, who met with Rutgers officials in Chicago last week. Jones, who currently serves as an offensive analyst for national power Alabama, compiled an 84-54 (.609) record and winning four of the six bowl games he coached in from 2007-17.

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Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.

James Kratch may be reached at jkratch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.