As Tennessee moves on in its coaching search after backing out of its decision to hire Greg Schiano, the Ohio State defensive coordinator must now move forward with preparation for the Big Ten Championship Game without the job opportunity that was once on the table.

When Ohio State coach Urban Meyer met with the media on Monday for his regularly scheduled availability, a reporter asked if he was "angry" about the way things played out for the Buckeyes' assistant head coach.

"He's an elite person, elite father, elite husband, elite friend and elite football coach. I stand by my coach."



- OSUCoachMeyer on @OSUCoachSchianopic.twitter.com/7NLE18gw3u — Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 27, 2017

"I'm not angry. He's an elite, elite husband, elite father and elite football coach. I stand by my coach. It's not fair to my players to make any comment other than that because we have a huge game this week."

Those sentiments were also echoed on Monday by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who said he would "100 percent" vouch for Schiano's character.

"I have great respect and he's a great football coach," Belichick said. "I'm not really involved in any other situation, but speaking about him as a coach and a person, [I have] the utmost respect and zero reservations, zero."

Word leaked that Tennessee was poised to hire Schiano to replace Butch Jones, but due to an intense, angry reaction from Tennessee fans to the news, Tennessee moved on from hiring Schiano.