Littlepage fired after 7-22 seaon, 3/16/88

[Abro1975]

Will we get to 7 wins this year? 23 in seasons ? Is this really that bad? Starting to seem that way. Just wow.

'Rutgers basketball coach Craig Littlepage was fired yesterday after leading the Scarlet Knights to just 23 victories in three seasons'

http://articles.philly.com/1988-03-...ector-fred-gruninger-craig-littlepage-rutgers

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[RUonBrain]

Make it so

 

[bac2therac]

I was just a senior in high school when Littlepage was here. I knew Rutgers was awful in basketball but can anyone fill me in on the details. As that season went on was it apparent he was going to get canned? Where their people supporting him at all. I know the attendance became dreadful and I fear something like that happening this year except Big 10 schools fans taking over the RAC

 

[thomasfoolery]

I second Bac2rac's request for a brief recap of the Littlepage era. Posters constantly use his tenure as a reference for how low a 'low point' can be, but other than a lot of losses, I'm not sure how much of a fiasco/disaster he really was. Was it bad players/ underachievement/ scandal? Any context appreciated!

 

[djrc89]

Bac I graduated high school in 85 and my senior year in college was wenzels initial ncaa season. Thus I was at Rutgers for all three of the littlepage years. My recollection is that at the time Rutgers (at least in our own minds was a premier program in the northeast) Tom Young had been very successful here. They made the ncaa in 83 and I believe Battle and chris remley graduated in 84. We were losing ground due to the nascent big east. Littlepage came in as a .500 coach at penn which raised eyebrows. He was seen as a very nice man, and ran a clean program. I think youd liken it to the shea era. He just seemed over his head right from the start. I think like now, there were people that liked him and wanted him to succeed, but 22 wins in three seasons one year after an ncaa berth there was never any doubt that he would go. I don't remember when the "turn the page" mantra began but as many of heard the women started to outdraw the men as that program was beginning its greatest prolonged era under grentz. There were doubleheaders where the men were actually first and womens fans filed in in the second half.

 

[MGSA99]

Little page had seasons of 8, 8, and 7 wins during his stint here. EJ has already surpassed his win total, and all he has to is win 9 games to be able to say, "Hey, at least I did better than Littlepage."

 

[NotInRHouse]

Bac I graduated high school in 85 and my senior year in college was wenzels initial ncaa season. Thus I was at Rutgers for all three of the littlepage years. My recollection is that at the time Rutgers (at least in our own minds was a premier program in the northeast) Tom Young had been very successful here. They made the ncaa in 83 and I believe Battle and chris remley graduated in 84. We were losing ground due to the nascent big east. Littlepage came in as a .500 coach at penn which raised eyebrows. He was seen as a very nice man, and ran a clean program. I think youd liken it to the shea era. He just seemed over his head right from the start. I think like now, there were people that liked him and wanted him to succeed, but 22 wins in three seasons one year after an ncaa berth there was never any doubt that he would go. I don't remember when the "turn the page" mantra began but as many of heard the women started to outdraw the men as that program was beginning its greatest prolonged era under grentz. There were doubleheaders where the men were actually first and womens fans filed in in the second half.

Sounds like the FEMA remarks on the football board earlier this year and the women have been outdrawing the men for sometime now, nevermind that wrestling is now as well.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

When you look at some of the decisions made by RU and every hire other than Schiano and CVS and hopefully Ash it really just gets aggravating because it is just so obvious that so many hires should never have even been contemplated and yet here we are.

 

[RUJMM78]

I was just a senior in high school when Littlepage was here. I knew Rutgers was awful in basketball but can anyone fill me in on the details. As that season went on was it apparent he was going to get canned? Where their people supporting him at all. I know the attendance became dreadful and I fear something like that happening this year except Big 10 schools fans taking over the RAC

A highlight of that season was fans wearing paper bags over their heads as a sign of disgust.I also remember that when Littlepage was hired there was comments from his staff that the cupboard was bare when they took over at Rutgers.

 

[Unionst]

Will we get to 7 wins this year? 23 in seasons ? Is this really that bad? Starting to seem that way. Just wow.

'Rutgers basketball coach Craig Littlepage was fired yesterday after leading the Scarlet Knights to just 23 victories in three seasons'

http://articles.philly.com/1988-03-...ector-fred-gruninger-craig-littlepage-rutgers

.

I lived nearby at the time and had court side season tickets. It was dreadful, much like now except there was probably more talent then. Littllepage was the most boring interview on earth too. Wenzel improved things fast.

 

[NY AGENTMAN]

Bac I graduated high school in 85 and my senior year in college was wenzels initial ncaa season. Thus I was at Rutgers for all three of the littlepage years. My recollection is that at the time Rutgers (at least in our own minds was a premier program in the northeast) Tom Young had been very successful here. They made the ncaa in 83 and I believe Battle and chris remley graduated in 84. We were losing ground due to the nascent big east. Littlepage came in as a .500 coach at penn which raised eyebrows. He was seen as a very nice man, and ran a clean program. I think youd liken it to the shea era. He just seemed over his head right from the start. I think like now, there were people that liked him and wanted him to succeed, but 22 wins in three seasons one year after an ncaa berth there was never any doubt that he would go. I don't remember when the "turn the page" mantra began but as many of heard the women started to outdraw the men as that program was beginning its greatest prolonged era under grentz. There were doubleheaders where the men were actually first and womens fans filed in in the second half.

I remember that the RAC had about 1000 fans for the men's game and then probably doubled or even tripled for the woman's game that followed. The only thing entertaining during that period was to see how many points Eric Riggins would score. I think this years team is very comparable to the 86-88 squad

 

[RUTGERZ_R00LZ]

I remember a story where Wenzel was picked up at the airport for a ride to RU in order to interview with Grunninger. During the drive Wenzel asked the driver who was the best basketball player at Rutgers. The driver replied: Sue Wicks.

 

[OntheBanks]

Will we get to 7 wins this year? 23 in seasons ? Is this really that bad? Starting to seem that way. Just wow.

'Rutgers basketball coach Craig Littlepage was fired yesterday after leading the Scarlet Knights to just 23 victories in three seasons'

http://articles.philly.com/1988-03-...ector-fred-gruninger-craig-littlepage-rutgers

.

He was 8-21, 8-22 then 7-22 in his time at RU. We actually hired him after he had 2 losing seasons coaching at UPenn.

 

[knight82]

I still say that Littlepage was worse than Hill or Jordan. Don't forget we were in the Atlantic 10 at the time and were getting blown out by the likes of Duquesne and St Bonaventure, in addition to the out of conference cupcakes. And talent wasn't the problem as the very next year after Littlepage was fired, Wenzel took us to the NCAA Tournament.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

I remember in Littlepage's last year in 1988 we played Temple who were ranked #1 at some point. The place was packed and some students were selling "Page Must Go" buttons for $1 in the student section. Sadly I chose not to buy one as I probably felt that money could be better invested in beer or a gyro from Sunrise grease truck. We got slaughtered of course. That team was truly awful. At least Littlepage's first two years featured Tom Young recruit Eric Riggins who developed into a huge scorer. That last year we had Tom Savage in the second semester but that was his first ever college action. There was no discipline in the program in those years and we also lost guys like Rick Dadika, Anthony Duckett, and Ed Zucker to injuries for entire seasons which didn't help his cause.

Also have to consider how truly lousy the Atlantic 10 was in the late '80's. Temple had a great year in 1988 and Rhode Island made the NCAA Sweet 16 that year too but the rest of the league was really, really bad. For our program to have fallen that fast in that terrible league while the Big East had completely taken over was a bitter pill to swallow. Back then there were young alumni who were still very passionate about Rutgers basketball.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

He was 8-21, 8-22 then 7-22 in his time at RU. We actually hired him after he had 2 losing seasons coaching at UPenn.

That said, Tom Young put us in a really tough spot by leaving only a month or two before fall practice. Not exactly the optimal time to hire a coach.

He went 13-14 his last year at Penn but they were actually 10-4 in the Ivy League to win the league and make the NCAAs which is weird.

 

[bac2therac]

that's a douche move by Tom Young to bolt like that so late...this was for another coaching job?

 

[megadrone]

that's a douche move by Tom Young to bolt like that so late...this was for another coaching job?

I thought he left us for Old Dominion. I remember it being a bit of a story as to why he would want to move down the food chain.

 

[ColonelRutgers]

Yeah, left for Old Dominion. I think he coached Kenny Gattison and Chris Gatling there. Was there maybe 4 years at the most. I think he got in some sort of brouhaha with a player or something at the end of his stint at ODU but don't remember the particulars.

 

[knight82]

Tom Young always held it against Gruninger for choosing not to join the Big East. It had gotten to the point where we just couldn't compete for recruits and he was looking for the first opportunity to bolt. I couldn't blame him.

 

[wheezer]

Tom Young always held it against Gruninger for choosing not to join the Big East. It had gotten to the point where we just couldn't compete for recruits and he was looking for the first opportunity to bolt. I couldn't blame him.

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this is it.....there was a time before both the big east and atlantic 10 that RU would recruit equal or better than Seton Hall, for example....shortly after the big east was formed, it was no longer the case.....we just could not get the best out of NJ, or the local area, anymore.