Golly, I think we have a new enemy in the press and it is not NJ.com.
http://www.app.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/12/07/rutgers-football-coach-ash/76940648/
EDITORIAL: Rutgers doubles-down on the big time
Instead of using the period after Rutgers fired its athletic director and head football coach last week to sit back and reflect on the future of athletics there, the university wasted no time fortifying its commitment to spending whatever it takes to turn Rutgers into a national powerhouse.
On Monday, following the well-deserved dismissals of Athletic Director Julie Hermann and coach Kyle Flood, Rutgers announced the hiring of Flood’s replacement, Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash as head football coach. Days earlier, former Gov. Chris Christie ombudsman Pat Hobbs was named AD.
No matter how you cut it, big-time sports at Rutgers over the past two years has been an unmitigated disaster, on and off the field. But that lack of success has overshadowed the financial cost of Rutgers athletics and the cost to the university’s reputation in its all-out effort to become a major national player in football, and to a lesser extent, basketball.
This would have been an ideal time to rethink its approach to athletics, and its role in the overall mission of the university. Instead, Hobbs, Rutgers President Robert Barchi and the university’s governing board made it clear they were committed to spending even more, on its new football coach and the assistant coaching staff, to become more competitive in the Big Ten.
Rutgers has tried to justify the investment in going big time by arguing the payoff would come in increased name recognition, which presumably would increase the number and qualify of applicants to Rutgers, and the generation of increased pride in the university, which would produce increased giving by alumni. That’s the theory. Here’s the reality:
•Rutgers athletics continues to be a drain on a financially strapped university. In fiscal 2014, Rutgers received a $36.3 million subsidy to balance the athletic department budget — more than any other university in America. The money comes from student fees and direct government or institutional support.
•Ash will receive a five-year base contract worth $11 million. Incentives could substantially increase that amount. The $2 million he will receive his first year is a $1.4 million raise from his job at Ohio State and $750,000 more than was paid Flood this year.
•To get rid of Flood, who was terminated “without cause,” Rutgers gave him a $1.4 million buyout. In other words, Flood, who presided over a team that went 4-8, was suspended for three games for impermissible contact with a faculty member and had seven team members arrested and six dismissed, received a $150,000 raise to leave.
•Rutgers not only determined it would have to pay a new head coach more to get the quality needed to compete in the Big Ten, it also has indicated it will have to pay its assistant coaches more as well. In 2014, Rutgers football’s staff of nine on-field assistant coaches was paid $2.4 million, only eighth best in the Big Ten.
•Salaries aren’t the only strain athletics are placing on Rutgers. In May, the Board of Governors came up with an athletics facilities master plan that called for building a multisports facility with separate practice courts for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. refurbishing the existing basketball arena and football stadium and turning the Hale Center, which recently underwent a $12.5 million expansion, into a football-only facility. The price tag? None was attached to the plan, but Barchi estimated it could approach $3 billion.
Rutgers continues to insist that the finances will take care of themselves once it receives its full Big Ten payout distribution — in 2021. At best, that’s debatable. It’s a shame that debate never took place.
http://www.app.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/12/07/rutgers-football-coach-ash/76940648/
EDITORIAL: Rutgers doubles-down on the big time
Instead of using the period after Rutgers fired its athletic director and head football coach last week to sit back and reflect on the future of athletics there, the university wasted no time fortifying its commitment to spending whatever it takes to turn Rutgers into a national powerhouse.
On Monday, following the well-deserved dismissals of Athletic Director Julie Hermann and coach Kyle Flood, Rutgers announced the hiring of Flood’s replacement, Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash as head football coach. Days earlier, former Gov. Chris Christie ombudsman Pat Hobbs was named AD.
No matter how you cut it, big-time sports at Rutgers over the past two years has been an unmitigated disaster, on and off the field. But that lack of success has overshadowed the financial cost of Rutgers athletics and the cost to the university’s reputation in its all-out effort to become a major national player in football, and to a lesser extent, basketball.
This would have been an ideal time to rethink its approach to athletics, and its role in the overall mission of the university. Instead, Hobbs, Rutgers President Robert Barchi and the university’s governing board made it clear they were committed to spending even more, on its new football coach and the assistant coaching staff, to become more competitive in the Big Ten.
Rutgers has tried to justify the investment in going big time by arguing the payoff would come in increased name recognition, which presumably would increase the number and qualify of applicants to Rutgers, and the generation of increased pride in the university, which would produce increased giving by alumni. That’s the theory. Here’s the reality:
•Rutgers athletics continues to be a drain on a financially strapped university. In fiscal 2014, Rutgers received a $36.3 million subsidy to balance the athletic department budget — more than any other university in America. The money comes from student fees and direct government or institutional support.
•Ash will receive a five-year base contract worth $11 million. Incentives could substantially increase that amount. The $2 million he will receive his first year is a $1.4 million raise from his job at Ohio State and $750,000 more than was paid Flood this year.
•To get rid of Flood, who was terminated “without cause,” Rutgers gave him a $1.4 million buyout. In other words, Flood, who presided over a team that went 4-8, was suspended for three games for impermissible contact with a faculty member and had seven team members arrested and six dismissed, received a $150,000 raise to leave.
•Rutgers not only determined it would have to pay a new head coach more to get the quality needed to compete in the Big Ten, it also has indicated it will have to pay its assistant coaches more as well. In 2014, Rutgers football’s staff of nine on-field assistant coaches was paid $2.4 million, only eighth best in the Big Ten.
•Salaries aren’t the only strain athletics are placing on Rutgers. In May, the Board of Governors came up with an athletics facilities master plan that called for building a multisports facility with separate practice courts for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. refurbishing the existing basketball arena and football stadium and turning the Hale Center, which recently underwent a $12.5 million expansion, into a football-only facility. The price tag? None was attached to the plan, but Barchi estimated it could approach $3 billion.
Rutgers continues to insist that the finances will take care of themselves once it receives its full Big Ten payout distribution — in 2021. At best, that’s debatable. It’s a shame that debate never took place.
