I think this is the major difference between now and the Shea Era. Rutgers is doing precisely what we all feared and many predicted we would wind up doing...taking the cash and not
seriously investing back into sports.
First let me say that while not a basketball fan anymore (I just hate the sport, nothing to do with Rutgers), I think that men's hoops has the right guy leading it and in another year or two we will enjoy the most success we've seen since the 70's and early 80's. But I think schools like Gonzaga and Butler have proven that conference affiliation really doesn't mean as much when it comes to building a basketball power. That said, being in the B1G certainly has boosted the profile of our wrestling program as they are well on their way to possibly becoming a national power. Women's soccer is also thriving on a national level. And our "Olympic sports" programs have a golden opportunity to eventually do special things that wouldn't otherwise be possible if we were still affiliated with the Big East or AAC.
The elephant in the room is football.You simply cannot hide being bad in football, especially when you play in one of the top two college football conferences in the land. It is as much your identity and brand as academics are (sorry Bob Barchi but this is true). I have women I work with who don't know the first thing about sports or college football but they know that Rutgers is terrible in football. No offense to the basketball folks on here but when Eddie Jordan was losing by 70 to Louisville no one outside of Rutgers or at most the college basketball world really knew or cared. But football is a different animal. A friend's son is looking at colleges and loves everything about Rutgers (and his parents love the cost) except how lousy we are in football. I think he's leaning towards going to Michigan State or Penn State.
You cannot compete in this conference being poorly managed when it comes to football and we have been for decades. We got lucky with Schiano but let's face it, in the grand scheme of things his moderate success was a mere blip on the radar and what he did build has now been burned to rubble. Ash looked good on paper but can the administration honestly say they did their due diligence when they hired this guy? I seem to remember the process being over very quickly and was kind of closed door as opposed to when Greg was hired (
https://www.onthebanks.com/2008/11/20/the-longest-november).
Bottom line, a change needs to be made ASAP. If the administration chooses to kick the can down the road for the next 12-14 months people will move on, and possibly never come back. When it comes to sports, I'm a college football fan first and a Rutgers alum second and it would take a
serious commitment by Rutgers to change this. So I am already taking road trips this fall in lieu of using my RU season tickets (just got back from Miami and going to South Bend in November). If a change is not made, next year I plan on using the money I'd put toward season tickets toward more road venues where people actually care about college football.
Don't be stupid Rutgers, you still have a chance to right this ship. You can make this a place where college football is a big deal. But the clock is ticking.