After a week of pandemonium in Piscataway, turbulence in Trenton, bedlam among boosters and flak from fans, Greg Schiano is coming home -- and this time, it’s for real.

Rutgers’ most successful football coach will return to New Jersey in an attempt to resurrect the program he took to six bowl games in his final seven seasons, a person with knowledge of the deal told NJ Advance Media.

Hours after Rutgers -- once again the laughingstock of college football -- ended a 2-10 season with a 27-6 loss to Penn State, word came in the early-morning hours: The Rutgers’ football program, steeped in shame, scandal and losing since Schiano left after the 2011 season, has hope again, thanks to a coach who took the team to six bowl games from 2001 to 2011.

The agreement was first reported on Rutgers Sports Insider, NJ.com’s subscription-based text messaging service.

The deal, reached six days after talks originally broke down, brings a conclusion to the wildest week in Rutgers sports history. After the first round of negotiations collapsed last Sunday and Schiano withdrew his name from consideration, relentless pressure from boosters, fans, former players and politicians forced Rutgers back to the table to get a deal done -- as the sports world wondered how Rutgers could have blown this layup in the first place.

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Just when hope seemed lost, NJ Advance Media reported Wednesday that Rutgers and Schiano likely would salvage an agreement, thanks to all of the arm-twisting.

The deal must be approved by a majority vote of Rutgers’ 14-person Board of Governors. The 48-hour public notice was sent Sunday and a special meeting for the BOG to vote is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Winants Hall in New Brunswick.

Three weeks of talks fractured when Rutgers balked at some of Schiano’s requests in his final counteroffer. Rutgers’ decision to walk away from fans’ top coaching candidate sparked a firestorm. Since then, Rutgers athletics director Pat Hobbs, university president Robert Barchi, athletics committee chairman Greg Brown and the board became the targets of exasperated fans, who slammed shut their checkbooks and said the Schiano fiasco would be the final straw.

Prominent boosters publicly called for Hobbs’ firing. Other top donors threatened to withhold millions of dollars of planned contributions. Season-ticket holders -- already dwindling in number -- and rank-and-file fans also called for Hobbs’ firing and Schiano’s return. They blamed Hobbs -- who amazingly had to be convinced to interview Schiano in the first place.

When a deal couldn’t get done the first time around, several Rutgers insiders say Hobbs tried to sabotage the negotiations by pointing to Schiano’s salary demands ($4 million per year) and a request for use of a private jet to paint Schiano as greedy. That further alienated fans.

The initial failed courtship sparked intense interest in Trenton, with Gov. Phil Murphy intervening while two former governors, Chris Christie and Richard Codey, publicly sparred over Schiano. Murphy elbowed his way into the talks to iron out details and financing for facilities upgrades -- a sticking point on which Schiano would not relent.

It all amounted to a remarkable uprising from a fan base that has been beaten down by losing. And it worked.

Schiano, 53, built the Rutgers football program into a frequent bowl participant before leaving for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early 2012. He spent three seasons as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator and then had a brief stint in the same role with the New England Patriots earlier this year before electing to take the season off.

Schiano’s record at Rutgers is deceiving. The Wyckoff native and Ramapo High product inherited the nation’s worst program when he was hired. The Scarlet Knights had four straight losing seasons to begin his tenure but earned the program’s second bowl berth in 2005, his fifth year.

Rutgers then had a breakthrough 2006, going 11-2 and finishing the year ranked No. 12 in the nation after an iconic home upset of Louisville and the school’s first postseason win in the Texas Bowl.

Schiano took Rutgers to six bowl games in his final seven seasons, winning five of them. Rutgers had a 56-33 record during that span.

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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.

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