BTN Tonight : Doomsday Scenario

[BOGDANOVICH]

CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, and all other sports reporters have already called this a disaster from moment one of the Flood scandal to the bizarre Norries Wison press conference. Now BTN's Gerry Dinardo has weighed in with a warning that this is a crisis at Rutgers of such magnitude that the program could crumble quickly and much faster than it took to build. He emphasized that unless the university, not just the football program, gets its act together, everything that Schiano built may be lost. Does the administration understand how bad it is? Does the administration realize that this is a university crisis that is spinning out of control? Does the administration realize how inept Rutgers looks to every outside observer? Do Barchi and company understand what is at stake? Will the Big Ten leadership endure this embarrassment again and again? Is Rutgers about to fall into the abyss?

 

[ScarletKnightRider]

Does it really matter? A majority of B1G fans don't care about us either way. I dont get why some posters think that the whole country wakes up, and checks Rutgers football news. Outside of NJ we are as relevant as Purdue or Illinois as far as FB goes, especially at this point in the year. It doesnt matter who's reporting us. We simply aren't staying on people's minds.

And besides, its not like they could just throw us out of the conference after a rough year in football. You make it seem like there's a severe nuclear meltdown at Rutgers and the school itself is going to be forced to shut down permanently. This just reeks of another "hey look at me" thread.....

 

[JQRU91]

In the long run, none of the football program's current issues is really that bad. I'd say the Mike Rice situation was worse, and here we are a few years later with it pretty much behind us. And even if everything Schiano built fell apart, it wouldn't take that long to rebuild provided you had the right coach in place. Schiano took over in 2001. What was the high point of his tenure at Rutgers? 2006. So the program went from the dregs to its apex in six years. That's not too bad, and it could be done again if need be with the right coach. Just remember, the media is trying to weave a narrative to sell a story, and the sky is falling makes for a good story.

 

[zappaa]

I agree with Dinardo, our fans can't take or understand criticism and reality. Yup, what GS did here was remarkable perception wise....and it's all about to crumble.
The people that constantly criticize the media and yell the sky is falling, the sky is falling in an attempt to downplay our situation are the delusional ones.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

For those of you who have a hard time reading between the lines, he is saying that the university needs to step up and spend the money to replace the coaching staff and hire the type of HC and coaching staff that can turn things around and get Rutgers back to what they were (2006 or better). If they allow the football program to continue on this path, we are going to be looking at the Flood Era the same way we look at the Shea era. The university is at a crossroads, they will either show that they don't care and keep on keeping on and let the football program fall into the abyss (remember our best plays are gone after this year) or are they going to show a willingness to step up and make some serious changes to right this stinking ship?

 

[devoted2ru]

For those of you who have a hard time reading between the lines, he is saying that the university needs to step up and spend the money to replace the coaching staff and hire the type of HC and coaching staff that can turn things around and get Rutgers back to what they were (2006 or better). If they allow the football program to continue on this path, we are going to be looking at the Flood Era the same way we look at the Shea era. The university is at a crossroads, they will either show that they don't care and keep on keeping on and let the football program fall into the abyss (remember our best plays are gone after this year) or are they going to show a willingness to step up and make some serious changes to right this stinking ship?

Agree. What's happening here is no joke, and if allowed to continue Rutgers football will not only go back to being a joke, but it will be a much more visible joke on a much bigger stage, playing championship caliber teams and getting slaughtered on a regular basis. And all that while the tOSU's, MSU's, Nebraska's, etc., come to Jersey on recruiting trips and take top kid after top kid back home with them, who'll then help those teams bulldoze us each and every time we go up against them.

In truth, I wanted Flood and co. gone after year #1. But that said, bit by bit he began to win me over and I honestly thought he might be showing signs of growing into the job. -But the email/grade issue and the way he handled it was so bumbling and inept, his, (supposed), lack of knowledge concerning the rules regarding contact between between coaches and faculty members was so inexcusable, and his almost kamikaze-like determination to keep doing the same thing over and over again whether it's working or not, without the slightest hint of being open to even trying something, or someone, new, pretty much have blown whatever positive feelings I had developed about him as RU's HC out of the water.

KF is a good guy and a good family man, but he wasn't prepared to be put into the position of running a major college football program, and after 3 and 1/3 seasons that reality is beginning to show. -And as the post quoted above states, it's up to the administration to recognize that and do something to prevent this from becoming "The Shea Era: Part Deux"...or even worse.

 

[WhiteBus]

In the long run, none of the football program's current issues is really that bad. I'd say the Mike Rice situation was worse, and here we are a few years later with it pretty much behind us. And even if everything Schiano built fell apart, it wouldn't take that long to rebuild provided you had the right coach in place. Schiano took over in 2001. What was the high point of his tenure at Rutgers? 2006. So the program went from the dregs to its apex in six years. That's not too bad, and it could be done again if need be with the right coach. Just remember, the media is trying to weave a narrative to sell a story, and the sky is falling makes for a good story.

Oh jeeze!! First you say that it's not bad than counter it could fixed in SIX years!!! Six f-ing years! NO! We should't have to hit rock bottom again. Fix it now!.

Just wondering are you related to Barchi in any way??

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

With the right hire we can turn things around in 4 years.

 

[zappaa]

Our young fans who have benefited from the miracle GS performed here have no clue where we are headed.
The fact he did it with a soft OOC, could not beat WVU and participated in mostly irrelevant bowls is irrelevant....he changed the culture and our perception.... all he did is deteriorating rapidly.
For those of us who are fanatics from the Burns days, we know....for me it's a crushing blow to my passion.
I sound overboard I know, I'm afraid.

 

[zappaa]

With the right hire we can turn things around in 4 years.

That's the problem, there's no indication or apparently money to assemble the right staff and hire. More importantly there may not even be the want

 

[ImBadRU]

Rutgers is a disaster with the current leadership and it will only get worse. They don't see how great sports at a university contributes to its overall quality. We are fing up a once in a lifetime opportunity in the B10.

 

[Ru2bnj]

It's a dark period ..no doubt about it. However, the criticism gets overblown and there is a lot of hyperbole. I saw the Wilson press conference ..it did not seem "bizarre" at all. You have someone that hasn't done this is a while. He was asking reporters who they were and where they are from...is that "bizarre"? I thought he was straightforward and unpretentious. I guess reporters like to ask questions but get defensive when they have to answer them.

 

[RUich]

Rutgers is cheap! With few exceptions, its sports programs are treated like clubs. If expectations are low you most likely will get those results.
The problem with being a state institution is that you are not really in charge like private schools. The state government, corrupt and broke, is definitely not interested. Hell, the governor is not even a fan of RU as we have all seen him in other college gear.
They really got lucky with Schiano. Yes, he made some clear demands and the school complied. Does anyone think Flood made any? Like many on this board, I think Flood is a decent man with good intentions. But, in many ways, he has shown that he is not capable of doing this job. Much of his success can be traced back to Schiano's legacy and that is pretty much gone. Recruiting has been problematic and his coaching staff seems to be minor league.
I am pretty much sure that Flood will not be coming back after this year. Hell, I am not sure he will even make it to the end of this season.
Who takes over is really a problem though. I think it is pretty clear that they can't take the easy route again and hire from within.

The true crisis is going to be the next hire. Get this one wrong and you will see what many are already calling it.

 

[cRURah]

I've been screaming about our coaching salaries since the day Flood was hired at 30% of Schiano's compensation package. What did everyone expect? You're in the B1G and deliberately hiring questionable talent to coach the team against some of best coaches in the country. That fact alone sets us up to be perpetual losers. Perception wise the message is clear: "Rutgers is not committed to winning and being the among the best in big time college football. We like the money though." Barchi was disingenuous in accepting the invitation to the BiG. To me he is nothing but a football whore.

 

[JQRU91]

Oh jeeze!! First you say that it's not bad than counter it could fixed in SIX years!!! Six f-ing years! NO! We should't have to hit rock bottom again. Fix it now!.

Just wondering are you related to Barchi in any way??

I'm saying six years is maybe a worst case scenario if Dinardo is right and we get the right coach. Personally, I think everything should be able to get fixed in two years if we get the right guy.

 

[RUinPinehurst]

That's the problem, there's no indication or apparently money to assemble the right staff and hire. More importantly there may not even be the want

The solution is private money not school/state money. Individual donors from the fan and alumni base. There's the problem: beyond your seat contribution, are we donating?

 

[lighty]

"What's happening here is no joke, and if allowed to continue Rutgers football will not only go back to being a joke, but it will be a much more visible joke on a much bigger stage, playing championship caliber teams and getting slaughtered on a regular basis."

Very good point. This is why even if Flood should NEVER have been the coach for a Big Ten game. Once the Big Ten invite was signed, RU should have done a major coaching search and hired someone with a plan to guide the school through the transition and to the point of competing in the conference.

It was way too big of a move -- and way too important -- to let a guy learn on the job. Nice guy or not. They needed someone that knew how to run a program. We're beginning to see the effects of that decision now. And it could get very ugly.

What kills me is that even if RU doesn't have the money -- which I believe they do have, they just don't want to spend -- they know money is coming to the program in a few years. Why not invest now and get it back later?

 

[zappaa]

The solution is private money not school/state money. Individual donors from the fan and alumni base. There's the problem: beyond your seat contribution, are we donating?

Fridge's salary was supplemented, you have to present a candidate to the donors they think is worthy of giving money too, then he needs to assemble a competent staff.
And yes, I do and have given more than seat donation.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

I said 4 instead of 2 since due to two factors recuriting and most of our best players leaving after this season.

We need to do something to put the program back in the right path. That does not mean hiring a big name coach per say. Since we can't afford that until we are getting the full payout. However, we should have enough money to get a brand new staff that is better than the current one.

 

[bac2therac]

Alot of the stuff in this thread has been discussed for years and it hasn't changed since we are in the Big 10. Fact and harsh reality is that Rutgers does not belong in the Big 10. Do you think Connecticut would be economizing and pissiing away opportunity

 

[zappaa]

Alot of the stuff in this thread has been discussed for years and it hasn't changed since we are in the Big 10. Fact and harsh reality is that Rutgers does not belong in the Big 10. Do you think Connecticut would be economizing and pissiing away opportunity

Madone Bac,
That's a strong analogy.

 

[ruready07]

Umm... We aren't in that bad of a situation. We still don't know what we have with this year's team - and if you think you can judge the team based on the games we've played so far you're wrong.
We will never be the worst team in the B1G - so how bad can it be really?
Coaches get fired and hired all the time.
Teams have bad years once in a while.
Players get arrested.
And even once in a while a coach will make a mistake too.

If that is all it takes to destroy our program then maybe we weren't as solid as we thought we were. As supporters, we need to stop with the crying around here. Take it on the chin and keep moving forward.

 

[B0ski]

As in anything else, you get what you pay for. And now, Rutgers is being "rewarded" for their lack of vision. As stated above, Flood NEVER SHOULD HAVE COACHED ONE BIG TEN GAME. I stated after the WSU loss that the loss would be the high water mark for this year. And unless the right thing is done (and there is probably a 5% chance of that happening) this program is going to sink further and further in the coming years.

 

[B0ski]

Umm... We aren't in that bad of a situation. We still don't know what we have with this year's team - and if you think you can judge the team based on the games we've played so far you're wrong.
We will never be the worst team in the B1G

The captain of the Titanic has spoken.

 

[Abro1975]

Seems like only a few months ago Flood and RU were being praised for winning 8 games, beating Michigan, Maryland, Indiana and crushing North Carolina in the Bowl game. RU had an All American Wrestler and tremendous attendance at Wrestling matches, and our Women's BB team made the NCAA tourny , again.

A few weeks of bad news and the Sky is falling. RU still has better Football attendence than half the Big 10 Universities. We lost our secondary to off field issues, our D Line has our 3 best players hurt, our best WR had a brain fart, and we are breaking in a new QB.

RU will fix it's problems. Let others worry about Pedophilia, 20 years of fake classes, Murders on the BB team, and point fixing.

RU will fix it's problems.

 

[ruready07]

The captain of the Titanic has spoken.

Lol. I know it sounds like that but seriously man, take a step back and you'll see we're still doing better than a lot of other programs , so why aren't they getting hammered? We may have issues, but we're also blowing them up to be way bigger than they are

 

[rutgersguy1]

Too much hyperbole. Yea we could suck for a bit but if we get the right guy we'll be fine. Get the wrong guy and we'll suck for a bit more. But that's always the case regardless of everything that's happened. The dynamics aren't different. The stadium still stands, we're still in the B10, money is still coming, infrastructure isn't getting demolished etc...

Is Illinois going to implode? Did Dinardo talk about that? That sounds like possibly real abuse compared to what we've had talked about here in the past with Tyree? or even beyond Rice for that matter. How about this? Did PSU implode with freaking the worst scandal of all time? Or how about this? Does anyone even remember TCU a couple years ago? There was a whole drug ring bust on campus that included some players on the football team. Sound familiar? How many even knew that or remember it? Did their program implode? Judging from last year, I don't think so. Do you know they just had a couple more football players arrested yesterday on assault and robbery charges (beer from some party)? Again sound familiar? Are they going down the tubes now?

Point is as I've said before our problems are no different than other places, no better no worse. The media can hype them up all they like but as you see our problems are generally no better or worse. We just try to fix them as best we can so they don't repeat themselves. If you can find the right people, you'll be fine and if you don't well then you'll be not so fine for a bit longer and you try again. But that's the case even in periods when you're not going through issues.

 

[BiggyRU]

No one outside of us die hards give a crap about Rutgers Football.
People will notice us when we win games. PERIOD.

Win football games and recruit good players and win more games.
That's it.

Thuggish behavior , fights, grade issues...All bad stuff , yes....But This has all been a part of major college football for the last 40 years..

Football is entertainment. If Rutgers becomes entertaining people will watch. They wont give a flying F*** about any of our supposed " scandals".

 

[JQRU91]

In retrospect, one of the problems we may have had with Flood running the program is his lack of previous experience. Not just in terms of being a head coach but in terms of the connections a coach makes with other coaches and personnel as they pass from job to job and program to program. That's how coaching staffs seem to get put together when a guy gets the top job. He goes back and finds the guys he's come across who've impressed him as a coach in some way. The problem with Flood is that he hasn't had too many other stints at other places and what he had were at a lower level. So both the scope and quality of the connections he had to draw upon to build a staff were probably limited, and that's likely been detrimental to the program.

 

[ru8081]

The root cause of our not being able to reach our potential is the NJ state government. They are bleeding the entire university dry. It is THEIR fault that we are not better in Football and Men's basketball AND it is THEIR fault that our USN&WR ranking is at 72. And we should all "thank" them for our 28-3 loss to PSU.

 

[StyleKnight]

I think the strategy was always to hold the line with Flood until the B1G money came in. Flood built some excitement with the entrance into the B1G with the 2014 class only to have that class eventually fall apart due to Mike Rice and poor play. He then got lucky to have Friedgen last year and built up some more excitement. With Fridge gone I have no confidence in this coaching staff. The OC and DC are so important and after the first 3 games I just don't see anything to get excited about.

 

[MozRU]

What doesn't this administration understand about being a flag ship state university? Where was the BLOCK R BEFORE GS? Not on bill boards. Not on cars. Not in department stores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Before GS you didn't see Rutgers anywhere. Us old timers remember the accent in the mid 2000s. Without a competive football team a state school dies.

I don't have faith this administration could run a lemonade stand, right now.

 

[ru8081]

What doesn't this administration understand about being a flag ship state university? Where was the BLOCK R BEFORE GS? Not on bill boards. Not on cars. Not in department stores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Before GS you didn't see Rutgers anywhere. Us old timers remember the accent in the mid 2000s. Without a competive football team a state school dies.

I don't have faith this administration could run a lemonade stand, right now.

But that is the point, this is the administration that TRENTON wants RU to have! They are the problem. We have the numbers, 460,000 living alums.

 

[Bleed_Scarlet]

In retrospect, one of the problems we may have had with Flood running the program is his lack of previous experience. Not just in terms of being a head coach but in terms of the connections a coach makes with other coaches and personnel as they pass from job to job and program to program. That's how coaching staffs seem to get put together when a guy gets the top job. He goes back and finds the guys he's come across who've impressed him as a coach in some way. The problem with Flood is that he hasn't had too many other stints at other places and what he had were at a lower level. So both the scope and quality of the connections he had to draw upon to build a staff were probably limited, and that's likely been detrimental to the program.

I think there is also a flip side to that... Even if there were a spigot, would a top DC or OC want to work for someone he doesn't know or possibly doesn't respect if there are other options available?

If I were switching jobs, I wouldn't want to work for a first time CEO or someone with less qualifications than myself

 

[Lions8286]

Don't get too wrapped up in what the media says. They WANT your situation to turn into a disaster. Wait until people start taking comments out of context and making things up only because it's "reasonable to conclude" that such events took place.

 

[rutgersdave]

In retrospect, one of the problems we may have had with Flood running the program is his lack of previous experience. Not just in terms of being a head coach but in terms of the connections a coach makes with other coaches and personnel as they pass from job to job and program to program. That's how coaching staffs seem to get put together when a guy gets the top job. He goes back and finds the guys he's come across who've impressed him as a coach in some way. The problem with Flood is that he hasn't had too many other stints at other places and what he had were at a lower level. So both the scope and quality of the connections he had to draw upon to build a staff were probably limited, and that's likely been detrimental to the program.

Mentioned this 2 years ago.

 

[zappaa]

You guys don't understand how difficult it is to run a successful program at this level.
We can easily be the worst team in the B1G, we might be right now

 

[MikeR0102]

With the right hire we can turn things around in 4 years.

Right hire can fix things in one year. Our talent level is not that bad that we are gonna be a non bowl team for years.

 

[patk89]

Our young fans who have benefited from the miracle GS performed here have no clue where we are headed.
The fact he did it with a soft OOC, could not beat WVU and participated in mostly irrelevant bowls is irrelevant....he changed the culture and our perception.... all he did is deteriorating rapidly.
For those of us who are fanatics from the Burns days, we know....for me it's a crushing blow to my passion.
I sound overboard I know, I'm afraid.

Exactly. I found myself watching the game last Saturday night praying that we would not embarrass ourselves, something I had not done since Shea. Winning the game was not even on my radar. I felt that our coaches had put the players in a bad situation making winning more difficult. Sure, the players who got thrown off the team played a large role as well, but the staff didn't handle it very well.

What is happening right now makes settling into the middle tier of the B1G in football much harder. It makes attracting a competent head coach (who has other options) more difficult. If the current situation is allowed to continue for a couple of seasons, we are right back to a major rebuild of perception and talent which takes more than a full recruiting cycle to change. I thought those days were behind us after joining the B1G.

 

[RURM85]

Yes, the end of days is near.