Which B1G school is the toughest place to coach

[cubuffsdoug]

I just read an article on Tubb Smith, and he said Minnesota might be the hardest or second most challenging job in the B1G. Some responses (Minny fans) think Northwestern, Penn St., and Rutgers are harder. If this were 7 years ago, I would agree with Minny fans. I believe Rutgers became problematic because the administration allowed it to happen. I would like to think those days pre-Pike are long gone. What do some of you think is the toughest place to coach?

 

[hoquat63]

Off the top of my head, Northwestern

 

[Scangg]

Rutgers definitely not on that list anymore

Northwestern. PSU seems hard. Clearly a football school, and if I were a recruit, I would NOT want to play at a school where home games are empty arenas

 

[Plum Street]

Northwestern in anything . They either don’t care about sports or want some decent academics. Which is hard to do if you want to win in sports

 

[bac2therac]

For hoops Penn State

 

[cubuffsdoug]

I meant to say the toughest place to coach basketball.

 

[G- RUnit]

PSU. 2nd fiddle to basketball program. Wrestling program bigger too. Cavernous empty boring generic arena. University Park in the middle of winter.

 

[Plum Street]

PSU has been better than us. Crispin brothers !

 

[G- RUnit]

PSU has been better than us. Crispin brothers !

Everybody has been better than us. Just needed right coach.

 

[Night Man]

Rutgers, as the opposing head coach

 

[PatrickRU92]

State Penn.

They don't give a crap about anything other than football, their arena a sterile piece of crap, and they smell bad.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

As a Chicagoan, my opinion is Northwestern by a million miles.

 

[Captain Hogleg]

NW, Nebraska and PSU

 

[Mr Magoo]

Depends on what you consider the toughest. Rutgers is a difficult place to win..but expectations are so ridiculously low that it takes years to remove inept coaches like Flood and Ash, (and Jordan in basketball). For those coaches, I don’t think it’s very tough since mediocrity is accepted. It’s a relatively easy place to slide and just make some money for a while.

 

[Scangg]

Depends on what you consider the toughest. Rutgers is a difficult place to win..but expectations are so ridiculously low that it takes years to remove inept coaches like Flood and Ash, (and Jordan in basketball). For those coaches, I don’t think it’s very tough since mediocrity is accepted. It’s a relatively easy place to slide and just make some money for a while.

Rutgers basketball expectations are not ridiculously low. Ridiculous. Stop living in the past. If Pike were to leave, mediocrity would NOT be accepted

 

[bethlehemfan]

NW, PSU and RU are all in the mix imo. If I’m not mistaken neb has solid fan support which sets them apart a little bit from nw and psu although psu students seemed to be doing a pretty good job making the atmosphere tough last night. I don’t think Minny is tough at all.

 

[LotusAggressor]

Rutgers basketball expectations are not ridiculously low. Ridiculous. Stop living in the past. If Pike were to leave, mediocrity would NOT be accepted

The mindset has changed. Now there are expectations.

 

[Loyal_2RU]

NW, PSU and RU are all in the mix imo. If I’m not mistaken neb has solid fan support which sets them apart a little bit from nw and psu although psu students seemed to be doing a pretty good job making the atmosphere tough last night. I don’t think Minny is tough at all.

Rutgers not in the mix today. Once we were top of the list because of lack of administrative support.

 

[bigmatt718]

I just read an article on Tubb Smith, and he said Minnesota might be the hardest or second most challenging job in the B1G. Some responses (Minny fans) think Northwestern, Penn St., and Rutgers are harder. If this were 7 years ago, I would agree with Minny fans. I believe Rutgers became problematic because the administration allowed it to happen. I would like to think those days pre-Pike are long gone. What do some of you think is the toughest place to coach?

Minnesota fans are delusional. NW, Nebraska, PSU and Minnesota are the 4 hardest basketball jobs in the B1G.

 

[Mr Magoo]

Rutgers basketball expectations are not ridiculously low. Ridiculous. Stop living in the past. If Pike were to leave, mediocrity would NOT be accepted

The point is if Pike was mediocre (which he is not), he would still be here. It’s a moot point now but Rutgers has always accepted mediocrity longer than most.

 

[Scangg]

The point is if Pike was mediocre (which he is not), he would still be here. It’s a moot point now but Rutgers has always accepted mediocrity longer than most.

The article is written in 2022. Rutgers was an extremely tough job 8 years ago. It's a completely different scenario now. That's irrelevant now

 

[Mr Magoo]

The article is written in 2022. Rutgers was an extremely tough job 8 years ago. It's a completely different scenario now. That's irrelevant now

Hope you are right. I have my doubts. Hope we don’t have to ever find out.

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Different teams occupy the bottom group if you break it down into fan support, finances (facility & HC salary), and on-court results. Keep in mind Tubb Smith was talking about the past when he coached, but we're talking present day.

If it's about fan (lack of) support, you have Maryland, Northwestern, and Penn State. As for team records, you have Nebraska, Penn State, Minnesota, and Northwestern. When it comes to financial support, Rutgers is in that group to a point. It took an act from the state (all $75 million) to jump-start work on the RAC. At the same time, Rutgers has the newest practice facility in the conference. When I looked at the salaries of the B1G coaches, I was somewhat shocked. Outside of Tom Izzo ($ 8.3 million), most of the coaches ranged from Pike ($ 2.6 million-12th in salary) to the second highest in Howard ($ 3.5 million). Only Minnesota's coach makes under $ 2 million a year. Penn State doesn't disclose coaches' salaries.