guess barchi knew what a disaster we had before

[ru66]

in the athletic department-------http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2016/03/rutgers_barchi_spends.html#incart_river_index
"I'm not going to go back and look at the folks who were here before, but I can say without a doubt that recruiting Pat (Hobbs) was a huge step for me,'' Barchi said. "And then working with Pat to recruit Chris (Ash), and now watching him recruit Steve (Pikiell), he shares my vision. He's able to project that vision, he's able to convince people on where we're trying to go. And I'm comfortable stepping back and letting him do that. That's a major step forward, I think, for the (athletics) program.

"So I'm looking at (athletics) leadership here that really fits with my leadership team, that works well with my senior vice presidents, and knows what the message is, knows where we're going, and I can count on him taking us there.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

in the athletic department-------http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2016/03/rutgers_barchi_spends.html#incart_river_index
"I'm not going to go back and look at the folks who were here before, but I can say without a doubt that recruiting Pat (Hobbs) was a huge step for me,'' Barchi said. "And then working with Pat to recruit Chris (Ash), and now watching him recruit Steve (Pikiell), he shares my vision. He's able to project that vision, he's able to convince people on where we're trying to go. And I'm comfortable stepping back and letting him do that. That's a major step forward, I think, for the (athletics) program.

"So I'm looking at (athletics) leadership here that really fits with my leadership team, that works well with my senior vice presidents, and knows what the message is, knows where we're going, and I can count on him taking us there.

Unfortunately people took the "Michigan" and "subsidy" comments to mean:

- Barchi couldn't care less about athletics/hates athletics
- Barchi will foce us to spend less on athletics
- Barchi is going to slowly tear down the athletic department
- Barchi (fill in more stupid shit people said)

....instead of waiting to see what Barchi would do, when the opportunities arose, and made this board a living hell, re: Barchi and athletics, for a very long time.

 

[brodsal]

Unfortunately people took the "Michigan" and "subsidy" comments to mean:

- Barchi couldn't care less about athletics/hates athletics
- Barchi will foce us to spend less on athletics
- Barchi is going to slowly tear down the athletic department
- Barchi (fill in more stupid shit people said)

....instead of waiting to see what Barchi would do, when the opportunities arose, and made this board a living hell, re: Barchi and athletics, for a very long time.

 

[bac2therac]

listen I am not ready to throw rose petals to Barchi. I believe he got a talking to and realized from what was going on that he had to step up with regards to athletics. When RU entered the Big 10 I think he was quite naive with what had to be done and was not prepared to go all in on sports. Fortunately he has reached the point for whatever reason that athletics matter in the Big 10 and support matters.

 

[brodsal]

Barchi hired the disaster known as Juilie Herman however

 

[rubaseball78]

He also had a minor distraction of the merger.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

I'm not ready to throw "rose petals," either, but I THINK people made rash assumptions based on some comments that were more-or-less what the general and academic public would have wanted to hear at the time and, again, we're NOT going to spend "Michigan" money, however, he never said we weren't going to spend "Purdue" money, either, so let's be happy, move along, and see what the future brings!

 

[ruman]

He's done a heck of a job since Nov 29 or so

 

[BIGRUBIGDBIGredmachine]

Barchi hired the disaster known as Juilie Herman however

and Eddie Jordan, and blew it with the Rice fiasco, etc...

Agree w/bac, somebody read Barchi the riot act--maybe Christie, maybe Delany, but somebody set him straight on what the Big10 is about and how to start acting like we want to belong.

 

[MoobyCow]

He is saying the right things but it's worth remembering that the previous leadership for the AD, football and basketball were all hired under his watch. So if he was uncomfortable, or they didn't share his vision he really has no one to blame but himself.

Still, it's better to make a change if what you were doing wasn't working and I'm relatively happy with what we have in place now. So let's see what happens.

 

[RedSpartan]

It's hard to admit your own mistakes and shortcomings, and it seems to me that Barchi has done that with athletics and made corrections. If Hobbs gets the AD where we all know it can go, that, along with the med school merger, will put Barchi at the top of the list of school presidents in RU's history.

 

[bac2therac]

He is saying the right things but it's worth remembering that the previous leadership for the AD, football and basketball were all hired under his watch. So if he was uncomfortable, or they didn't share his vision he really has no one to blame but himself.

Still, it's better to make a change if what you were doing wasn't working and I'm relatively happy with what we have in place now. So let's see what happens.

100% agree. and listen I soured on TP because of how he handled the Rice thing but still he was absolutely thrown under a bus by Barchi who couldnt be bothered to deal with this situation. Yes he had a merger that was priority but hello that does not mean he has no other responsbilities. The botching of the vetting of Julie was on him completely.

 

[Crimedog2]

You wonder if things were different and say flood was competent and won 8 or 9 games in 2015 . He obviously wouldn't have been fired and Julie wouldn't have been either . That makes you wonder who the baskebtall coach would be .
It all ties back to flood being a disaster and we appear to be in a better place now because Hobbs is here .

 

[srru86]

Barchi hired the disaster known as Julie Herman however

His mistake was to let that hiring be handled by, and accept the recommendation of, a typically academic style search committee with lots of members pushing their own agendas that went off the rails.
(Don't look now but that is how much of the faculty got hired)
You will note that is not how the Hobbs hiring was handled.
Something to be said for ability to learn.

 

[MoobyCow]

You wonder if things were different and say flood was competent and won 8 or 9 games in 2015 . He obviously wouldn't have been fired and Julie wouldn't have been either . That makes you wonder who the baskebtall coach would be .
It all ties back to flood being a disaster and we appear to be in a better place now because Hobbs is here .

All in all I think Flood being a disaster is better for the long term health of RU athletics. Any process and people that lead to the hiring of a career OL coach as your HC are fundamentally flawed. If you get extremely lucky and that coach winds up, against all odds, to be competent you then you don't adjust the broken system processes that led to him being hired in the first place.

Fundamentally we're actually likely pretty lucky that Rice blew up, TP botched it, Julie and Flood blew up... Because they were all symptoms of a broken system at RU. Only once it all went completely to sh!t did Barchi take an interest in actually fixing it. Half measures would have just left us drifting along at best.

 

[RUMBA-JK]

Barchi hired the disaster known as Juilie Herman however

It does seem a bit like Barchi had his hands full with what was billed as the HUGE project that he was brought in to lead to success ...
and in retrospect it looks like he relied upon the University's 'usual suspects & usual approach' to go about filling the AD position - a big university - in a time of big projects - should be able to call for 'all-hands-on-deck' and get a solid effort .... well surprise, opportunists capitalized on Barchi being new & being pulled in 18 different directions & messed with the process / tossed in an agenda linked candidate - and it turned out badly.

When it came to doing the AD selection a second time - Barchi appears to have chosen not to involve numerous participants - held his selection meetings with himself - sought quality and acted swiftly.

 

[PaKnight]

All in all I think Flood being a disaster is better for the long term health of RU athletics. Any process and people that lead to the hiring of a career OL coach as your HC are fundamentally flawed. If you get extremely lucky and that coach winds up, against all odds, to be competent you then you don't adjust the broken system processes that led to him being hired in the first place.

Fundamentally we're actually likely pretty lucky that Rice blew up, TP botched it, Julie and Flood blew up... Because they were all symptoms of a broken system at RU. Only once it all went completely to sh!t did Barchi take an interest in actually fixing it. Half measures would have just left us drifting along at best.

Kind of like "The Fumble" for the NY Giants.

 

[Knight Shift]

His mistake was to let that hiring be handled by, and accept the recommendation of, a typically academic style search committee with lots of members pushing their own agendas that went off the rails.
(Don't look now but that is how much of the faculty got hired)
You will note that is not how the Hobbs hiring was handled.
Something to be said for ability to learn.

Wasn't it more like one member derailing the search and railroading the committee to suit her agenda?

 

[RU82]

I'm feeling pretty satisfied with both of our new hires. There's reason to be optimistic in both cases.

 

[Upstream]

He is saying the right things but it's worth remembering that the previous leadership for the AD, football and basketball were all hired under his watch. So if he was uncomfortable, or they didn't share his vision he really has no one to blame but himself.

Still, it's better to make a change if what you were doing wasn't working and I'm relatively happy with what we have in place now. So let's see what happens.

He hired Jordan and Hermann. He didn't hire Flood.

I am not really seeing a change in philosophy from Barchi. I am seeing stuff that indicates that his dissatisfaction with Hermann was greater than I previously thought, and that he regretted the committee hiring process that lead to her selection. (It is worth noting that this type of committee hiring process predated Barchi at Rutgers, and he has now eliminated this process for his executive hires.) I don't think he had a problem with Jordan, other than failure to win enough games. He obviously had many problems with Flood beyond the W-L record.

I think that Barchi has been fairly consistent in wanting a Athletic Director who acts as an executive leader for the Athletic Department. He made that clear again in his introductory comments at yesterday's press conference in which he indicated that the selection of Pikiell was completely Hobbs' decision, that Barchi set the vision for what he wants Athletics to contribute to the university, and that Hobbs is executing to that vision.

While some may see Barchi's approach as a hands-off approach meaning he doesn't care about athletics, or he is throwing ADs under the bus, to me it is very clear that he is telling his ADs that they are executives in charge of running the athletic department, and they have free rein to do their jobs, constrained only by the realities of their job.

 

[imbazza2]

100% agree. and listen I soured on TP because of how he handled the Rice thing but still he was absolutely thrown under a bus by Barchi who couldnt be bothered to deal with this situation. Yes he had a merger that was priority but hello that does not mean he has no other responsbilities. The botching of the vetting of Julie was on him completely.

In retrospect Barchi firing of TP was the best move for Rutgers in the long run. Looking at the landscape to day we would not be here with TP he made many bad hires Flood example #1 mike rice #2, we would not be here with JH no matter who she would have hired they would not be these men of character.
So look at RU and be Happy.

 

[RU MAN]

Barchi hired the disaster known as Juilie Herman however

That's where you're dead wrong. Julie Hermann did a lot of great things while here including reorganizing the entire department so it runs like a real athletic department. She did Hobbs a favor, by leaving him an organized way of doing business unlike the mess we had under TP and BM.

Yes, she was a PR nightmare, but she did pave the way for a REAL athletic department to succeed.

 

[srru86]

Wasn't it more like one member derailing the search and railroading the committee to suit her agenda?

Yes, one particular alumni member, abetted by some faculty members.

 

[PaKnight]

In retrospect Barchi firing of TP was the best move for Rutgers in the long run. Looking at the landscape to day we would not be here with TP he made many bad hires Flood example #1 EJ #2, we would not be here with JH no matter who she would have hired they would not be these men of character.
So look at RU and be Happy.

Tim did not hire Eddie.

 

[RU MAN]

He hired Jordan and Hermann. He didn't hire Flood.

I am not really seeing a change in philosophy from Barchi. I am seeing stuff that indicates that his dissatisfaction with Hermann was greater than I previously thought, and that he regretted the committee hiring process that lead to her selection. (It is worth noting that this type of committee hiring process predated Barchi at Rutgers, and he has now eliminated this process for his executive hires.) I don't think he had a problem with Jordan, other than failure to win enough games. He obviously had many problems with Flood beyond the W-L record.

I think that Barchi has been fairly consistent in wanting a Athletic Director who acts as an executive leader for the Athletic Department. He made that clear again in his introductory comments at yesterday's press conference in which he indicated that the selection of Pikiell was completely Hobbs' decision, that Barchi set the vision for what he wants Athletics to contribute to the university, and that Hobbs is executing to that vision.

While some may see Barchi's approach as a hands-off approach meaning he doesn't care about athletics, or he is throwing ADs under the bus, to me it is very clear that he is telling his ADs that they are executives in charge of running the athletic department, and they have free rein to do their jobs, constrained only by the realities of their job.

Upstream this isn't the whole story. Barchi was being too naive when he first came in here. The Chairman of the BOG, Jim Delany and yes even what's his name in Trenton all put pressure on him to treat the athletic department as part of the B1G and not as Grunninger would run the department. Julie, for all of her foot-in-mouth faults actually turned the entire department around and had it running like a real athletic department. She learned from the best in Jurich. Unfortunately for her and us, she was ill-prepared as an executive like Pat Hobbs to gain the respect of Barchi, the BOG and the press.

But don't think Barchi had some sort of "ah-hah" moment. He was pressured into rethinking his approach. I know this because I was there for the football situation which began when JH was here.

 

[brodsal]

That's where you're dead wrong. Julie Hermann did a lot of great things while here including reorganizing the entire department so it runs like a real athletic department. She did Hobbs a favor, by leaving him an organized way of doing business unlike the mess we had under TP and BM.

Yes, she was a PR nightmare, but she did pave the way for a REAL athletic department to succeed.

 

[brodsal]

Sorry but being the public face of the athletic department is a huge part of the job. As you said she was a PR nightmare which drastically hindered her ability to be effective. I'm not sure what was so great about her "reorganizing" things but I will say it speaks volumes that when the time came for her to make a critical fire/hire with Flood, Barchi decided he did not have the confidence in her to do it so he went out and (thankfully) hired Pat Hobbs.

 

[RU MAN]

Sorry but being the public face of the athletic department is a huge part of the job. As you said she was a PR nightmare which drastically hindered her ability to be effective. I'm not sure what was so great about her "reorganizing" things but I will say it speaks volumes that when the time came for her to make a critical fire/hire with Flood, Barchi decided he did not have the confidence in her to do it so he went out and (thankfully) hired Pat Hobbs.

I was engaged in the situation when JH first took over and saw what a mess she was left by TP. I'm not going to go into full detail here, but I will tell you that when she left she left Hobbs with the way an athletic department is run at Louisville or any other top B1G program. With TP we were still playing in the minor leagues with his way of doing things. She turned the department from a mom and pop operation into a major league athletic department. That will be her legacy and for that I'm grateful to her.

 

[Upstream]

Upstream this isn't the whole story. Barchi was being too naive when he first came in here. The Chairman of the BOG, Jim Delany and yes even what's his name in Trenton all put pressure on him to treat the athletic department as part of the B1G and not as Grunninger would run the department. Julie, for all of her foot-in-mouth faults actually turned the entire department around and had it running like a real athletic department. She learned from the best in Jurich. Unfortunately for her and us, she was ill-prepared as an executive like Pat Hobbs to gain the respect of Barchi, the BOG and the press.

But don't think Barchi had some sort of "ah-hah" moment. He was pressured into rethinking his approach. I know this because I was there for the football situation which began when JH was here.

He may have been naive in following established Rutgers protocols (like hiring by committee), which he later abolished with the benefit of experience at Rutgers.

And while I wholeheartedly agree that Hermann did a lot of good things for Rutgers Athletics, her propensity for sticking her foot in her mouth was a burden. According to Carino, Barchi did have an ah-hah moment when Hermann botched the communication to Eric LeGrand about his being a speaker during commencement. "His office’s instructions to Hermann had been simple: Explain to LeGrand that he still would be a speaker, just not the speaker. That the wrong message was communicated and, worse yet, done via voicemail only — plus the aftermath that a vexed LeGrand could not get Hermann to return his call — served as the tipping point for Barchi. It was the moment when he finally realized Hermann could not do the job. He might have been the last person in New Jersey to arrive at that conclusion. From then on, Hermann was a dead AD walking."

 

[brodsal]

I was engaged in the situation when JH first took over and saw what a mess she was left by TP. I'm not going to go into full detail here, but I will tell you that when she left she left Hobbs with the way an athletic department is run at Louisville or any other top B1G program. With TP we were still playing in the minor leagues with his way of doing things. She turned the department from a mom and pop operation into a major league athletic department. That will be her legacy and for that I'm grateful to her.

To slight TP in this way is just plain wrong. TP was largely responsible for our entry into the Big 10 and had the support of major boosters in a way that Julie never was able to achieve. Under Tim's leadership we had a positive public perception and booster checkbooks that supported Tim are again starting to open due to confidence in Hobbs. Until the Rice fiasco Tim was widely viewed as one of the most promising young AD's in the country. If you blame him solely for how the Rice situation went down then you clearly don't know all the facts. If Julie was as great as you say she was I'm sure she will be hired to be an AD somewhere very quickly.

 

[RU82]

To slight TP in this way is just plain wrong. TP was largely responsible for our entry into the Big 10 and had the support of major boosters in a way that Julie never was able to achieve. Under Tim's leadership we had a positive public perception and booster checkbooks that supported Tim are again starting to open due to confidence in Hobbs. Until the Rice fiasco Tim was widely viewed as one of the most promising young AD's in the country. If you blame him solely for how the Rice situation went down then you clearly don't know all the facts. If Julie was as great as you say she was I'm sure she will be hired to be an AD somewhere very quickly.

I agree with virtually all of this. Tim did have a rep as an up and comer. But the suggestion that he was largely responsible for us getting into the B1G is a huge stretch. Mulcahy and Schiano own about 95% of the credit for that.

 

[ruman]

Sorry but being the public face of the athletic department is a huge part of the job. As you said she was a PR nightmare which drastically hindered her ability to be effective. I'm not sure what was so great about her "reorganizing" things but I will say it speaks volumes that when the time came for her to make a critical fire/hire with Flood, Barchi decided he did not have the confidence in her to do it so he went out and (thankfully) hired Pat Hobbs.

it not only did they not want her to make the hire, her rep was terrible and guys like Ash and Pikiell probably wouldn't have wanted to work for her.

 

[RU MAN]

He may have been naive in following established Rutgers protocols (like hiring by committee), which he later abolished with the benefit of experience at Rutgers.

And while I wholeheartedly agree that Hermann did a lot of good things for Rutgers Athletics, her propensity for sticking her foot in her mouth was a burden. According to Carino, Barchi did have an ah-hah moment when Hermann botched the communication to Eric LeGrand about his being a speaker during commencement. "His office’s instructions to Hermann had been simple: Explain to LeGrand that he still would be a speaker, just not the speaker. That the wrong message was communicated and, worse yet, done via voicemail only — plus the aftermath that a vexed LeGrand could not get Hermann to return his call — served as the tipping point for Barchi. It was the moment when he finally realized Hermann could not do the job. He might have been the last person in New Jersey to arrive at that conclusion. From then on, Hermann was a dead AD walking."

No, you're right and I don't dispute that at all. As I said in another post, she was a PR nightmare. I think her forte is the nuts and bolts of organization, that's why when said and done she was not the right person, because being the face of the athletic department and handling yourself with the press and the administration is equally as important and JH failed at that. Hobbs on the other hand has shown the propensity to be a leader behind the scenes and at the podium. I feel we hit a home run with his hire and I do credit Barchi for that. Now, let's hope Ash and Pikiell turn out to be the gems we're all hoping for going forward.

 

[RU MAN]

To slight TP in this way is just plain wrong. TP was largely responsible for our entry into the Big 10 and had the support of major boosters in a way that Julie never was able to achieve. Under Tim's leadership we had a positive public perception and booster checkbooks that supported Tim are again starting to open due to confidence in Hobbs. Until the Rice fiasco Tim was widely viewed as one of the most promising young AD's in the country. If you blame him solely for how the Rice situation went down then you clearly don't know all the facts. If Julie was as great as you say she was I'm sure she will be hired to be an AD somewhere very quickly.

Sorry but TP was in over his head and the whole "getting us into the B1G" was that he answered the phone. Bob Mulcahy and president McCormick along with Schiano were the instrumental players. They not only got the ball rolling but made it happen. I'm not saying that TP wasn't a part of it because he was, but not the way you think it all went down. In addition, TP's hires (Flood and Rice) were a disaster. He did not do a good enough job in his due diligence. The booster checkbooks, which includes my own, were already starting to open up under JH. It's just that Barchi no longer had any faith in her (and rightly so) and her days were numbered. I think Julie will get another shot at this at another school and hopefully she will learn from her mistakes of foot in mouth disease.

 

[PaKnight]

To slight TP in this way is just plain wrong. TP was largely responsible for our entry into the Big 10 and had the support of major boosters in a way that Julie never was able to achieve. Under Tim's leadership we had a positive public perception and booster checkbooks that supported Tim are again starting to open due to confidence in Hobbs. Until the Rice fiasco Tim was widely viewed as one of the most promising young AD's in the country. If you blame him solely for how the Rice situation went down then you clearly don't know all the facts. If Julie was as great as you say she was I'm sure she will be hired to be an AD somewhere very quickly.

Hired Rice and Flood.

 

[Hamilton's Cannon]

IMO, Barchi is the worst RU President i can remember. He has been disastrous to the sports programs - a hindrance to its lack of success, not a help. It is only since he fell into the background that any positive has come. And the merger isn't close to being finished.

 

[ru66]

my goodness--95% or more recognize that our past AD was a nightmare and did a tremendous amount of harm to RU---she was a absolute flop

 

[bac2therac]

I call bullshit on the Julie/ Le Grand thing. Barchi is responsible and it has nothing to do with Julie. While I dont doubt that part of that story is true, I doubt its the whole story. Ultimately Barchi elected to snub Eric..blaming Julie is a coward manuever which he has shown time and time again he will do

 

[TDIrish27]

JH was a poor AD-----and I truly believe Barchi is a mile over his head in his current position.

Once the Med School thing is completely done hopefully he moves on.

As to the new HC hires let's see where we are in 3 years------and show some patience.

Focus now needs to be on fund raising------RU needs shovels in the ground within 12-18 months for a basketball practice facility.

 

[NotInRHouse]

TP hired Flood and Rice, and frankly anyone else would have had to deliberately seek out to make such bad hires to stumble so poorly to find not only lousy coaches but ones with severe ethical challenges.

JH was in a no win situation with what she inherited.