Love and Hate, How Rutgers killed my love for Rutgers

[sunsetregret]

He gets it; you don't.

Just because the football program may be the most visible part of the university, that doesn't make it the most important part.

We're all football fans on this board, so we recognize that the football program is a way that the university can connect with alumni and non-alumni fans. But if that connection never runs deeper than the football program, then it is a superficial connection that is of little significance to the university.

The university is much more than just football.

There are a handful of universities where the culture and identity of the place revolves around football. But those universities are the exception. And Rutgers is not one of those exceptions.

What you leave out, of course, is that if there is no football program, there is no invitation to the Big 10 (and all the academic benefits that come with it). There's an argument to be made (a strong argument) that, yes, the football program is the most important part of the university ... it is our single best available source of advertising (to potential students, employers, faculty, etc) and without it, we don't have the academic position and associations that we do. It's also the best available method of generating goodwill with alumni and local businesses and, more importantly, the donations that come with that goodwill.

Simply put and generally speaking, nobody cares about the English Department. People do care about the football program. And as long as that is true, it is more important.

 

[sunsetregret]

After all, who would go back to campus to see medical research? Nobody. But that doesn't make it less important than football.

Maybe it does?

 

[Scarlet Jerry]

Several of our games were hard to watch this year, but the team definitely was more competitive as the season progressed. I look forward to Rutgers games every fall. If I wasn’t going to them, I’d be doing work for my job or housework - neither which is very appealing. While the football team may be in a temporary slump, and that colors our opinion of everything, think about how this “problem” compares to other places this year. Each of these schools have recently had major front page scandals:

Maryland
Louisville
Baylor
Michigan State

This is only a partial list, and it puts our football season in perspective. If you want to look at football performance alone, Penn State fans had a series of miserable home losses this year, and Michigan was humiliated and lost AGAIN to their biggest rival. If we are less focused on our situation, thinking that we are the only disappointed fan base, everyone will feel a little better.

I know that the resources and structure are in place for our long term success - a big time conference, the athletic performance center, more $$$, etc. Unfortunately, we will have to be a little more patient.

Scarlet Jerry

 

[DJ Spanky]

I will add that Barchi stated his position towards the FB program from the beginning. That is, FB needs to support all AD programs and any premium salaries for FB and BB coaches will be picked up by the Boosters. That works during good times but is a Non Starter during the low times.

Wow, did he really say that? Or was it just insinuation?

 

[RU4Real]

Wow, did he really say that? Or was it just insinuation?

I don't believe he ever said that. It's logically inconsistent.