Kyle Flood, the interim coach at Rutgers, agreed Monday to permanently replace Greg Schiano as football coach after hours of discussions with Mario Cristobal of Florida International ended with him declining the job, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Flood’s acceptance of the job pending the completion of a contract capped a whirlwind day in which Cristobal appeared to have emerged as the leading candidate. Rutgers is expected to announce Flood’s hiring Tuesday afternoon.

Schiano left last week to become the coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the N.F.L.

Cristobal, a former Rutgers assistant coach, was considered the favorite because he possessed characteristics that Athletic Director Tim Pernetti valued: head-coaching experience, a familiarity with the university and strong recruiting ties in both New Jersey and South Florida.

But a person with direct knowledge of Cristobal’s thinking said that he declined the job in part because it was too close to national signing day, which is Wednesday. Cristobal would have had to cobble together Rutgers’s incoming class and would have left F.I.U.’s class in peril. Cristobal also did not want to leave his team, which was 8-5 last season and will probably be considered among the favorites to win the Sun Belt Conference next year.