Just Venting - Rutgers

[LBird33]

And we were monitoring the situation

 

[Rufus]

There was a small window where the Big 10 would be interested in two mediocre (or worse) athletic programs like these two, and Rutgers was smart enough to say yes. To Maryland’s credit, they ended up paying a big exit fee to the ACC (at least $31 million), which was obviously worth it.

Rutgers might be a mediocre athletic program, but Maryland is not. If you are looking at the entire athletic program, Maryland has the third most number of overall Big Ten Championships since joining the league. Only Michigan and Ohio State have won more since 2014.

And Rutgers has made vast improvements from where they were 10 years ago in most sports. They still have a long way to go, but started so far behind that it will probably be many more years before they are an elite athletic program and there is no guarantee that day will ever happen.

 

[Rufus]

Here is an article about how Tim Pernetti got Rutgers into the Big 10.

How Rutgers crashed the Big Ten: The inside story 10 years later

Rutgers was invited to join the Big Ten 10 years ago, a transformative moment for the university that many believed would never happen.

www.nj.com

I just read through the series of articles on the 10-year anniversary of Rutgers getting into the B1G. Pretty interesting read. Rutgers is still paying the B1G back for its loans and will not have everything paid back until 2027. However, they are inching closer and closer to receiving a full share of the media rights payout each year.

What I found most interesting is that Maryland took out even more loans from the B1G than Rutgers did. I'm not sure if Maryland will have everything paid back in 2027 when Rutgers does or not. I did a quick online search of the topic and was not successful in finding the answer.

Rutgers borrowed a total of $48 million from the B1G against its future earnings, to be paid back in full, with interest, in annual installments ending in 2027.

 

[hank970]

Hey all,

just curious (but also venting in frustration) - was/is rutgers more worthy than us to be at the big-boys table?
I am asking for the specifics surrounding the story of Rutgers - the more "complex" dynamics that made them jump out over, say.... a UConn.

I know the obvious things about the rutgers value proposition to B1G, if you can even call it that:

• NY TV market (irrelevant IMO, we stream anyway)
• fine "enough" academic school (they do some good research there espcially with Woody Johnson support - overall not bad but def not great - i'd say no better than uconn and certainly nothing special in the B1G compared to the research output by Michigan, Ohio State, etc. - they don't compare to those schools at all, IMO)

But i am also aware of:

• mediocre basketball
• mediocre football (better than us sure, but srsly would we be worse than them had we gotten in?)
  • honestly, they feel almost like a twin to us in football - Greg Schiano had a glory days run, got ray rice for a bit, leveraged that to go to a "better" job (NFL), failed miserably there, and then came back to be a non-factor in his team's new league... sound familiar?
• historical big east peer of ours - did we do any worse than them at during BE football days?

idk... all of this just makes no sense. it can't just be the NY tv market thing... why in the world is Rutgers safely eating the filet mignon, while we're flailing in the wind and Jim Mora had to practically cry in a press conference to get some money for players.

My unsolicited opinion - they deserve to be in B1G just about as much as we do - which is 0%. - is there a risk actually valuable B1G schools will kick them out either thru a vote or just paying them unacceptably less in a future distrubition deal? sry if this is a re-run of past talks, just curious about their particular situation.

In 2022, Rutgers' research activity of more than $688,000 ranked #40 in the nation. In the same year, #89 UConn's research activity amounted to a bit more than $280,000, a few hundred bucks less than that of #88 Mississippi State. Want to compare endowments? Rutgers' is about $1.98 billion. UConn's, at $600 million, is less than a third of that. In USN&WR ranking of national universities, Rutgers is #40 and UConn is #58. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

UConn is a fine school. Jealously trying to denigrate another institution isn't going to make UConn better.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

In 2022, Rutgers' research activity of more than $688,000 ranked #40 in the nation. In the same year, #89 UConn's research activity amounted to a bit more than $280,000, a few hundred bucks less than that of #88 Mississippi State. Want to compare endowments? Rutgers' is about $1.98 billion. UConn's, at $600 million, is less than a third of that. In USN&WR ranking of national universities, Rutgers is #40 and UConn is #58. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

UConn is a fine school. Jealously trying to denigrate another institution isn't going to make UConn better.

This is a UConn board, and you have not posted anything remotely positive about UConn in a long time. You are welcome to leave if any pro-UConn posts upset you.

 

[WestHartHusk]

In 2022, Rutgers' research activity of more than $688,000 ranked #40 in the nation. In the same year, #89 UConn's research activity amounted to a bit more than $280,000, a few hundred bucks less than that of #88 Mississippi State. Want to compare endowments? Rutgers' is about $1.98 billion. UConn's, at $600 million, is less than a third of that. In USN&WR ranking of national universities, Rutgers is #40 and UConn is #58. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

UConn is a fine school. Jealously trying to denigrate another institution isn't going to make UConn better.

Now do sports. The thing that is relevant here.

 

[hank970]

This is a UConn board, and you have not posted anything remotely positive about UConn in a long time. You are welcome to leave if any pro-UConn posts upset you.

Aw, did I hurt your feelings? Re-read my post. I said nothing negative about UConn. I just stated facts counter to the original poster's contention that Rutgers is somehow undeserving.

 

[hank970]

Now do sports. The thing that is relevant here.

If only sports are relevant here, then why did the original poster bring up academics and research activity? I sure as hell didn't.

That said, UConn has proved its worth on the basketball court. Halfway decent in baseball, too. Football relevance?

 

[auggie22]

It is not just that Rutgers has a bad athletic department. At the time admitted to B10 they were bottom 10% bad, historically bad at just about every sport. They still have a loser brand, which they may never shed. So pointing to USNWR ratings (btw UCONN was higher rated just 10 years ago) is a little misleading and does not address the real shock of RU getting the golden ticket. They won the lottery despite doing everything wrong (other than locating their ugly campus within the NYC demo). That is the kicker.

 

[DMTCYNAW]

In 2022, Rutgers' research activity of more than $688,000 ranked #40 in the nation. In the same year, #89 UConn's research activity amounted to a bit more than $280,000, a few hundred bucks less than that of #88 Mississippi State. Want to compare endowments? Rutgers' is about $1.98 billion. UConn's, at $600 million, is less than a third of that. In USN&WR ranking of national universities, Rutgers is #40 and UConn is #58. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

UConn is a fine school. Jealously trying to denigrate another institution isn't going to make UConn better.

appreciate the passion, and the data/research (really, not sarcastic). I am certainly not jealous of Rutgers, though i could see how it seems that way.

Actually, I am happy for them, because they get the filet mignon that they don't deserve.
If UConn were in the B1G I might be inclined to say the same about us, but AT LEAST in our case we own the best basketball property in 2024, and though that's not football that's way more athletic value than Rutgers has ever brought to the B1G table.

And please, $$ aside, let's not kid ourselves - rutgers is not B1G prestigious. It's a fine school that will get your child to where they want to go with hard work (i.e. like UConn), but it carries NONE of the brand weight of UM/OHSt/Northwestern/UIUC/Purdue - those schools are POWERHOUSES academically and thus branding-wise.

Now, It could be said that Nebraska is also not B1G prestigious/worthy - but what DO they have? a historically prestigious athletic department, which def must have moved the needle for their inclusion. No matter how bad NU football is in a given year, that Red "N" on the white helmeet is seared into college football lore forever - that's brand value if I've ever seen it.

I'm not gonna apologize about what i said. On a purely merit basis, They (RU). don't. deserve. it.

I know their financial numbers are better than ours. After all, they're a B1G school (on paper, at least) and that association, while not the only contributor, absolutely plays into where they are financially today, so the argument is circular (chicken/egg).

 

[Viet Vet]

This is a UConn board, and you have not posted anything remotely positive about UConn in a long time. You are welcome to leave if any pro-UConn posts upset you.

However, the post is accurate and germane.

 

[Kolumbo]

NJSU is the state flagship AAU member of the 11th most populous state bordering NYC. It doesn't matter if the athletics are mediocre, or bad, or historically bad. B1G programs need Ws whether they come from rutgers or indiana or illinois, and even rutgers athletics will improve after years of B1G $$.

rutgers won the lottery and UConn won repeated kicks to the cajones. It sucks. The worst part is reading rutgers message boards and how the fans feel they have earned their place in the B1G and the right to put down non-P2 programs. It's bizarro world over there.

 

[John]

This is a UConn board, and you have not posted anything remotely positive about UConn in a long time. You are welcome to leave if any pro-UConn posts upset you.

Nelson's garden-state jealousy of Rutgers rears it's ugly head again. Go Pirates!

 

[Waquoit]

Nelson's garden-state jealousy of Rutgers rears it's ugly head again. Go Pirates!

Why the hell is anyone carrying water for Rutgers on a UConn board? I get the no-life BCU fans here because it makes them feel special, but Rutgers?

 

[Chuck]

I have a lot of ties to Rutgers, including going to grad school there. I traditionally rooted for RU when it didn't impact UConn. Now I only root for UConn and I root against the Big Ten in everything (and the ACC). Most RU alums / fans I know are pretty reasonable people that respect UConn as a school and the success of the basketball program. But there is a core group that went to "Rutgers College" in the 70s-90s that have a general inferiority complex that drives them to hate a lot of things. Every program is either a cheater or inferior school to them. All programs have those fans (I'm sure we do), but it's annoying. Rutgers is a great school. UConn is a great school. Anyone that would question someone going to one over the other is dumb.

I, personally, think that UConn and Rutgers should play each other in most sports. I know they played in baseball, but I'm not sure why they don't play in other sports.