Remember when falling short of a conference title was too much to bear at Rutgers? When an inability to win the “big game” seemed like an intractable failure? When going 7-5 or 8-4 each season and playing in a minor bowl was simply unacceptable?

That seems cute now, doesn’t it?

Once upon a time, fans were convinced that Rutgers had plateaued under former coach Greg Schiano -- and, in some ways, the Scarlet Knights probably did. But this program is at the bottom of a deep canyon looking up at that plateau now, wondering how in the world it can climb back to the level of respectability that was once ordinary.

Here’s a good first step: It can bring back Schiano.

Rutgers athletic director Patrick Hobbs did what was necessary on Sunday afternoon, firing head coach Chris Ash four games into a dismal fourth season, in a story first reported on NJ Advance Media’s Rutgers Sports Insider. Ash was a fish out of water from the start, unable to cope with the challenges that are a daily reality in Piscataway.

Now Hobbs must give the unemployed Schiano the full-court press before the coaching carousel starts spinning. He must hope the one coach who had any level of success here over the past quarter century can do it again.

Rutgers has a litany of problems now after its 16th straight loss to a Power Five opponent, but Schiano improves four of them soon after his introductory press conference. To wit:

He brings a boost to season ticket sales. That matters after Rutgers had about 18,000 fans in SHI Stadium on a sunny day to face Boston College, because the current trend is killing the athletic department’s bottom line. He gives a jolt to recruiting -- especially in-state. Schiano isn’t going to keep Ohio State, Notre Dame and the other national powers from plucking the top New Jersey prospects, but his relationships could help slow teams like Syracuse, Iowa and others from syphoning the next level players out of state. He will help fundraising. Rutgers needs a new field house to compete with the Big Ten powers. Schiano’s strong relationship with boosters such as Motorola CEO Greg Brown led to important improvements like the stadium’s recruiting lounge. He provides immediate credibility and buzz. Schiano is the one coach in the modern history of the program who succeeded, and his experience since -- as an NFL head coach, as a defensive coordinator at powerhouse Ohio State, as some Bill Belichick trusted to hire in New England -- enhances his resume.

Schiano isn’t perfect. He failed in Tampa with the Buccaneers, and after his stint in Columbus, he bailed on Belichick before coaching a single game as defensive coordinator in New England for personal reasons. The 68-67 record in his 11 years as Rutgers coach included far too many game-day disasters that left loyal Rutgers fans pounding their heads against the wall.

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He never won a Big East title. Now he’ll have to compete in the Big Ten East against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State, and do so at a place where fans will not have anywhere near the same level of patience as they did the last time around.

To the skeptics, I ask this: You got a better idea? And, please, be realistic. A reader cc’ed me on an email he sent to Hobbs demanding that the AD target Urban Meyer, which is sort of like a high school trying to book Billie Eilish for its senior prom.

Rutgers isn’t getting Matt Campbell, the up-and-coming Iowa State coach, or anyone else with options. Hobbs discovered that during his first coaching search, when several potential candidates wouldn’t return his call. Rutgers might strike gold with an unheralded but successful coach like Buffalo’s Lance Leipold, but the current state of the program demands something more dramatic.

Two decades ago, Rutgers hired Schiano when he was an unknown defensive coordinator at Miami, and he survived some epic early struggles to drag this chronic underachieving program to a respectable level. He is the man most responsible for the Big Ten invitation, even if he bolted to the NFL before that paradigm-shifting moment.

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In the seven years since his departure, Rutgers has upgraded its practice fields and added millions to its coaching salary pool. Schiano spent much of his first stint in Piscataway focused on off-the-field improvements. This time, he would step into a job where the leadership mostly understands the cost of doing business in big-time college football.

Does Schiano want the job? He might need Rutgers as much as Rutgers needs him. The last time he tried to get back into college coaching, a dirtbag radio host’s smear campaign led an angry mob to force Tennessee to pull its offer in 2017.

For the record: The “evidence” that Schiano knew about Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of boys at Penn State amounts to one scrap of hearsay testimony that was never corroborated or even investigated. Still, in the win-the-press-conference world of college athletics, it might be enough to keep him from being a candidate in other programs.

Not here. People in Piscataway are free to debate his game-day coaching acumen all they want, but his character is not in dispute -- ask Eric LeGrand about that next time the paralyzed former Rutgers player motors into the stadium.

Because Hobbs fired Ash so early in the season, Schiano could begin organizing a staff, evaluating the roster and monitor recruiting weeks ahead of when it usually happens after a leadership change. Rutgers could actually be ahead of the curve for a change. Will that matter? It can’t hurt.

The move will have its critics who believe that Schiano’s record isn’t good enough. That’s fine. Everyone else will be downright giddy to “settle” for an 8-4 season given the way this program has looked in the years since he left.

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Steve Politi may be reached atspoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. FindNJ.com on Facebook.