Troubles with Rutgers Athletics

[bags27]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/...etic-department-deficits.html?ref=todayspaper

Maybe this works out financially when Rutgers is fully vested in the Big 10, but right now it looks like the Big 10 schooled Rutgers: bringing Rutgers in for TV and recruiting rights in the Northeast....I know Rutgers faculty who have been long outraged by the resources redirected to athletics, and, there is no doubt that, academically speaking, Rutgers's best days are behind it. And for other reasons, Nebraska isn't very happy in the Big 10 either. I guess this is an object lesson for UConn: if it does eventually get the chance to get into the P5, be very careful what you wish for.

 

[Vowelguy]

I guess this is an object lesson for UConn: if it does eventually get the chance to get into the P5, be very careful what you wish for.

To suggest this is any kind of cautionary tale about the P5 and not Rutgers' own incompetence is BEYOND a gross mischaracterization of the situation.
If you want UConn to still be challenging for a NC in 15 years, you will be praying for a P5 invite.

 

[LesMis89]

Rutgers made some bad hires and compounded it with their own malfeasance. This in no way is a B1G issue, it's a Rutgers issue.

 

[1-of-the-6]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/...etic-department-deficits.html?ref=todayspaper

Maybe this works out financially when Rutgers is fully vested in the Big 10, but right now it looks like the Big 10 schooled Rutgers: bringing Rutgers in for TV and recruiting rights in the Northeast....I know Rutgers faculty who have been long outraged by the resources redirected to athletics, and, there is no doubt that, academically speaking, Rutgers's best days are behind it. And for other reasons, Nebraska isn't very happy in the Big 10 either. I guess this is an object lesson for UConn: if it does eventually get the chance to get into the P5, be very careful what you wish for.

What's going on with Nebraska and the B1G? I've followed their women's team for the last five years, thanks to Ohio native Rachel Theriot. With her graduation last year, the mysterious dismissal of Connie Yori, and Natalie Romeo's transfer to Washington, I now root against them.

 

[DefenseBB]

If you want UConn to still be challenging for a NC in 15 years, you will be praying for a P5 invite.

I agree completely that Rutgers AD is to blame for this current mess and that all oversight factions have been negligent in their duties to hold them accountable. That said, your opinion on UConn being able to challenge for NC without a P5 affiliation is not supported by the current sports that UConn currently IS contending in. In other words, football is not a viable option, never will be and should never be a thought to try. All other sports can contend. A bigger picture financial analysis on schools with and without big time football has shown how broken the dream of the P5 is.

 

[DefenseBB]

What's going on with Nebraska and the B1G? I've followed their women's team for the last five years, thanks to Ohio native Rachel Theriot. With her graduation last year, the mysterious dismissal of Connie Yori, and Natalie Romeo's transfer to Washington, I now root against them.

Use Google to find out how Yori abused her team as that has been discussed numerous times already here.

 

[Vowelguy]

That said, your opinion on UConn being able to challenge for NC without a P5 affiliation is not supported by the current sports that UConn currently IS contending in. In other words, football is not a viable option, never will be and should never be a thought to try. All other sports can contend. A bigger picture financial analysis on schools with and without big time football has shown how broken the dream of the P5 is.

Go over to the Conference Realignment board and make these comments. You will be summarily beaten down.

P5 schools are on the cusp of getting $30-40 million per year from TV, or more. UConn is still getting money from the exit fees of schools that left the Big East, but that ends soon. Then it will be getting about $1 million a year. If you think UConn can continue to compete in the long run with schools making $30m+ *more* a year, you are mistaken.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Use Google to find out how Yori abused her team as that has been discussed numerous times already here.

I Googled it many, many times during the months after it happened. Plus, I'd watched her coach for the prior four seasons. I tend to believe what Natalie Romeo said, that Yori did nothing wrong except have a bunch of immature players.

 

[UcMiami]

Interesting stuff, but Rutgers lost control of their athletics department long before the move to the Big10 - the expansion of their football stadium was a running scandal in the period 2008-11 and they were buried in red ink. Maryland was in similar circumstances for years before they bolted to the Big10 and I don't know if the move has solved their problems either.

There is a real problem with big money boosters at schools, old but networks that mix politics and business interests, and just crazed fans that suborn in many instances the ability of school administrations and their presidents to control the ADs. You even see it with UConn and some of the crap flung at Herbst for her inability to get us into a P5, as if she has any really control or much influence in the various conference deliberations.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Interesting stuff, but Rutgers lost control of their athletics department long before the move to the Big10 - the expansion of their football stadium was a running scandal in the period 2008-11 and they were buried in red ink. Maryland was in similar circumstances for years before they bolted to the Big10 and I don't know if the move has solved their problems either.

There is a real problem with big money boosters at schools, old but networks that mix politics and business interests, and just crazed fans that suborn in many instances the ability of school administrations and their presidents to control the ADs. You even see it with UConn and some of the crap flung at Herbst for her inability to get us into a P5, as if she has any really control or much influence in the various conference deliberations.

Rutgers problems are and I think have been for a long time, incompetence driven. There are not a lot of big money donors at Rutgers. There are a lot of politics, which didn't improve when Chris Christie became governor. As I understand it, he engineered a significant take-over of the Board of Governors, although (again, if I understand it) the Trustees remain independent as a check and balance.

I never thought the expansion of the football stadium was a "running scandal" - what it was was a lot of spending of money that didn't exist, but that would only have been a scandal if it wasn't commonly known (and I was still in NJ then). And a common business practice, but one that I don't think a public university should be engaged in.

I never bought that RU mishandled the Rice situation as badly as so often stated - Rice was being closely monitored and had numerous conditions on him. But it was the wrong decision in our current version of society. A lot of the other issues were just embarrassing.

 

[UcMiami]

Rutgers problems are and I think have been for a long time, incompetence driven. There are not a lot of big money donors at Rutgers. There are a lot of politics, which didn't improve when Chris Christie became governor. As I understand it, he engineered a significant take-over of the Board of Governors, although (again, if I understand it) the Trustees remain independent as a check and balance.

I never thought the expansion of the football stadium was a "running scandal" - what it was was a lot of spending of money that didn't exist, but that would only have been a scandal if it wasn't commonly known (and I was still in NJ then). And a common business practice, but one that I don't think a public university should be engaged in.

I never bought that RU mishandled the Rice situation as badly as so often stated - Rice was being closely monitored and had numerous conditions on him. But it was the wrong decision in our current version of society. A lot of the other issues were just embarrassing.

I thought there was either a huge cost overrun or unexplained delays that dogged the stadium work (if not cost overruns than they had hid the true total cost from scrutiny until the thing was well underway. I am sort of vague, but remember a number of news reports from maybe 2009-10 time period where 'shock' at the expenses and the lack of oversight were the general idea. If I have that wrong, sorry. The fact that they were racking up debts and 'scandals' well before the Big10 expansion was even thought about was certainly true.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I thought there was either a huge cost overrun or unexplained delays that dogged the stadium work (if not cost overruns than they had hid the true total cost from scrutiny until the thing was well underway. I am sort of vague, but remember a number of news reports from maybe 2009-10 time period where 'shock' at the expenses and the lack of oversight were the general idea. If I have that wrong, sorry. The fact that they were racking up debts and 'scandals' well before the Big10 expansion was even thought about was certainly true.

Probably true about the stadium, what I remember was panic mid-stream due to lack of funds. The problem in many ways was that Rutgers was a small time operation for many years. The AD was the ex-golf coach, the department was full of old paper-pushers, there was no women's marketing to speak of (one of the (many) reasons Grentz left) and football and men's basketball were dreadful when I started following RU in '95 (I was a '78 grad, but I didn't follow them). Mulcahey was a politico pushed on RU, whose solution (from the start at least) was to slap red paint on anything that wasn't moving. But football improved, he began positioning RU towards the B1G, he fund-raised to try and cut the subsidy (funding scholly's was a big thing with him). Men's basketball was hopeless. But I don't think RU has ever really had a serious professional athletic department staff.

Most of the problems - whether the silly, stupid or financial - come down to no one really thinking about what they are doing. The current AD - Hobbs - while I don't care for him, at least made the MBB change for poor performance reasons. Flood, Hermann and the hiring of Jordan were not on his watch, he is really in a position of trying to clean up messes. There was recently an expose on Rutgers salaries, while CVS is the 3rd highest paid coach in the B1G, trust me - even the high paid football and men's BB coaches are near the bottom. And some of the non-revenue salaries are utterly deplorable. The problem is trying to run a P5 program with mid-major level donors.

 

[CL82]

Rutgers is a dumpster fire but it will be rolling in cash in a few years.
If their faculty feels that strongly about leaving the P%, however, I can think of another Northeast university that would be willing to take their Big 10 slot.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

This article was very informative. Rutgers and Maryland were both running deficits in their athletic departments apparently. I get why Big 10 membership was significant to both schools and no one would turn them down but I am unsure either adds that much to the bottom line of the conference. The Big 10 saw markets in DC and NY with both schools, never mind there are plenty of Big 10 grads in both cites before the addition happened.

UConn should be in the ACC. The conference should go to 16 teams and ND football should join as well to balance things out once their ridiculous contract runs out.

 

[mbr33ct]

I love reading comments on these articles. One that got my attention was this one...if only it was true.

 

[Charliebball]

The problem with Rutgers athletics is quite simple............we in NJ have some of the best high school baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse and soccer players in the country and yet almost none of the better players stay in state to attend school. It's the same old song........"if only we could keep our own players we could play with anybody"...........and every new coach insists that he/she will be the one to make the breakthrough...........once in a while they manage to grab a few good ones and those are the years where Rutgers will be a plus .500 team or maybe just get into a low end bowl game...............short of Geno, Nick Saban or John Calipari, I'm not sure if any coach can turn Rutgers around at this point

 

[Jimbo]

I get why Big 10 membership was significant to both schools and no one would turn them down but I am unsure either adds that much to the bottom line of the conference. The Big 10 saw markets in DC and NY with both schools, never mind there are plenty of Big 10 grads in both cites before the addition happened.

Actually, I would say their additions added plenty to the Big 10's bottom line. Not so much in terms of athletic performance (though Maryland does hold its own in basketball), or even TV ratings, but those weren't the reason those two schools were brought aboard anyway. The Big 10 added them because they delivered cable boxes. That conference has raked in a ton of cash from cable customers in the NY and DC markets whose packages now include the Big Ten Network, regardless of whether the games themselves actually draw any added viewers in those markets. That was the goal, and the Big 10 was quite successful in achieving it. I'm sure there is no shortage of Big 10 fans who wish Rutgers would disappear into a hole in the ground, but I doubt Mr. Delany has any regrets over adding them.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/12/...etic-department-deficits.html?ref=todayspaper

Maybe this works out financially when Rutgers is fully vested in the Big 10, but right now it looks like the Big 10 schooled Rutgers: bringing Rutgers in for TV and recruiting rights in the Northeast....I know Rutgers faculty who have been long outraged by the resources redirected to athletics, and, there is no doubt that, academically speaking, Rutgers's best days are behind it. And for other reasons, Nebraska isn't very happy in the Big 10 either. I guess this is an object lesson for UConn: if it does eventually get the chance to get into the P5, be very careful what you wish for.

I don't think UConn's football program is any healthier. If memory serves, UConn's athletic program subsidy is one of the highest in the nation. Should rival Rutgers on that score.

Luckily, Coach Geno and his WCBB program has to be a money spinner. And none of the sins of big-time football.

 

[CL82]

I love reading comments on these articles. One that got my attention was this one...if only it was true.

View attachment 20706

Conspiracy Kitty says:
Or is it?