Rutgers potential

[YoucancallmeRay]

What level do you think RU football can become realistically, notwithstanding your current feelings about the admin., coach, etc.? My rankings are my own opinion. If you differ, that's fine. The schools are just samples:

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue

I think RU can get to Level 2 within the next ten years.

 

[zappaa]

Level 2 1/2 for sure with the right coach. That's why I can't watch Flood suck the life out of any possibility of it happening…I refuse to watch it.

 

[TheHandOfChaos]

I dont see a reason why we couldnt evolve into a group 1 status if we kept jersey players home

 

[ruhudsonfan]

I take pause at your "groups."

How is FSU not in the top Tier group?

Multiple National Championships, 2 Heisman winners, about 50 AAs and about 200 NFL draft picks in the last 30 years.

Wisconsin and FSU belong in the same group about as much as we belong in a group with Alabama.

 

[DHajekRC84]

some of those teams bounce between 2 and 3. No reason we couldn't be there as well. Duke wasn't even on the map. now I could argue them being level 3.

 

[BuggsyRU]

Level 3.

If we weren't in the same division as Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State....I would say level 2

 

[rutger80]

It might take 10 years to get and stay at Level 2.

 

[urbanecane]

I've set the goal at Michigan State. With the right coach, I believe it is an attainable thought, especially considering we don't have a Michigan to deal with.

 

[zappaa]

It might take 10 years to get and stay at Level 2.

Do you know how long I've been hearing that?

 

[Mr_Twister]

I dont see a reason why we couldnt evolve into a group 1 status if we kept jersey players home

Provincial thinking. That ship has sailed. There is plenty of talent out there. We need good players, period. Think Boise State or Nebraska when it comes to recruiting. The "Recruit NJ" stuff is hackneyed/Mr. Magoo thinking. If we stop with provincial hires we can get beyond the "Recruit NJ" nonsense. Too much water has flowed under that bridge.

 

[WhiteBus]

Do you know how long I've been hearing that?

:clap:
Exactly Zap!! But we have so many Floodies that are content with the status quo. Believing he is the man to lead Rutgers. The only place he is going to lead Rutgers is an NCAA suspension!

 

[BuckRU]

Level 2 on a good year... level 3 on a rebuilding year. That's what I would love.

 

[RUMBA-JK]

Right coach, right economy, right strategic Booster support plan, and and the right hand full of recruits and you could see the program rise to high '2' once it starts clicking, the momentum will be phenomenal.

 

[drewbagel423]

I dont see a reason why we couldnt evolve into a group 1 status if we kept jersey players home

Because a team made up of only NJ players isn't going to beat the best teams in the country that recruit nationally.

 

[RUsSKii]

Given the right coach and an administration exercising some good sense with athletics, I think that Level 2 is attainable in the next 10 years. If Flood is retained, however, you'll need to add a Level 5 to your OP, because I'm not confident that Rutgers would be able to consistently compete with the Level 4 teams..

 

[RickDaglessMD]

Somewhere between two and three; "2A". Regardless of how much we improve in the short term, those Tier 1 teams all have a long tradition of winning on their side. In order to get there, we need to build a competitive program with decades of sustained success. That can all begin with the right investments and coaching hires.

 

[jellyman]

What level do you think RU football can become realistically, notwithstanding your current feelings about the admin., coach, etc.? My rankings are my own opinion. If you differ, that's fine. The schools are just samples:

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue

I think RU can get to Level 2 within the next ten years.

I will tell you my opinion on what the reasonable performance I might expect RU could achieve - or at least strive for achieving - over the next 10-15 years. You then tell me the "level" that qualifies for:

Over every 10-year period, I believe it is reasonable for RU's Administration and fans to expect:

1) ONE year where RU wins the Big Ten East Division - thus challenges for the Big Ten title ... though it is possible all the stars would have to align for this to happen ... which does occur every once in a while.

2) TWO seasons where RU wins 9-10 games, but falls short of the Big Ten East Division title ... but would have RU qualify for a New Years' Day bowl.

3) FIVE or SIX seasons where RU wins from 6 to 8 regular season games, and qualifies for a Big Ten affiliated bowl ... and hopefully wins the bowl game 3 or 4 of those 5 years.

4) ONE or TWO rebuilding years, where RU falls short of the 6 regular season wins for a .500 record.

I believe RU is not quite there yet in terms of having the quality of athletes, or even maybe the quality of coaching, to certainly be able to achieve the 10-year record I cite as a reasonable expectation. But I think RU COULD get there - and SHOULD aim for that type of program accomplishment.

I think that those who think RU can get to your Level 1 in the next 10-15 years need an intervention and counselling. It is just not going to happen any time soon, if at all. Wisconsin and Stanford would be the "dream" accomplishments longer term. Iowa the more realistic nearer term.

 

[RU-ROCS]

What level do you think RU football can become realistically, notwithstanding your current feelings about the admin., coach, etc.? My rankings are my own opinion. If you differ, that's fine. The schools are just samples:

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue

I think RU can get to Level 2 within the next ten years.

Level two - MSU/Wisconsin - is our ceiling. With the right funding, support and coaching staff, I think we could get there in 5 years.

 

[krup]

Provincial thinking. That ship has sailed. There is plenty of talent out there. We need good players, period. Think Boise State or Nebraska when it comes to recruiting. The "Recruit NJ" stuff is hackneyed/Mr. Magoo thinking. If we stop with provincial hires we can get beyond the "Recruit NJ" nonsense. Too much water has flowed under that bridge.

The NJ HS football system (with the parochials recruiting the best players) gets the elite NJ players to leave their hometown for 9th grade and commute up to an hour away to play football for a better team. Why does Rutgers beat their head against the wall thinking they are going to convince many of the same players to then pass up a better college team to stay home and play for Rutgers??

We are going to have to win first with some NJ players and a lot from PA, NY, MD, FL, etc. before an ACTUAL winning team at Rutgers can get the NJ elite players to stay.

 

[AreYouNUTS]

We have as much POTENTIAL - if not MORE - than any of these other schools that made BCS/NY6 bowl games, the last 20 years, other than the best of the best. If Boise, TCU, Hawaii, NIU, UCF, and-so-on-and-so-on, can make it there, so can we AND, more than that, we should be able to sustain it, obviously not year but every now-and-then, once we achieve that 1st big game.

Now...there are obvious ways to get there, by both spending a lot, or not, but will we make the right choice either way?

 

[WhiteBus]

The NJ HS football system (with the parochials recruiting the best players) gets the elite NJ players to leave their hometown for 9th grade and commute up to an hour away to play football for a better team. Why does Rutgers beat their head against the wall thinking they are going to convince many of the same players to then pass up a better college team to stay home and play for Rutgers??

We are going to have to win first with some NJ players and a lot from PA, NY, MD, FL, etc. before an ACTUAL winning team at Rutgers can get the NJ elite players to stay.

Rutgers isn't a great college? What are you smoking?

 

[zappaa]

Because a team made up of only NJ players isn't going to beat the best teams in the country that recruit nationally.

We need a respectable amount of the best NJ players to stay home, without them we have NO CHANCE.
Of course the rest of the roster is made up of kids from wherever we can get them.

 

[RUJMM78]

Right now Rutgers would be level 4 with mediocre talent/ coaching and obvious financial concerns until 2021.Its hard to believe that Rutgers will be successful against Ohio State,Michigan,Michigan State and Penn State the next five years unless a miracle hire occurs.Making predictions for a level 2 ranking is simply wishful thinking because of all the constraints facing Rutgers internally and externally.

 

[TheHandOfChaos]

I took this question as "what's the ceiling?" I just dont see why that would be limited. We are going to have the financial resources in a couple of years and have a chance to make the sky the limit

 

[RUTGERZ_R00LZ]

Because a team made up of only NJ players isn't going to beat the best teams in the country that recruit nationally.

That's true, but a NJ team that can't recruit more than a couple of the top 25 NJ kids isn't going anywhere. Something is terribly wrong there.

 

[krup]

Rutgers isn't a great college? What are you smoking?

It's ironic you ask what I am smoking in a post where you argue a comment I didn't make.(Rutgers isn't a great college?).

 

[RU MAN]

What level do you think RU football can become realistically, notwithstanding your current feelings about the admin., coach, etc.? My rankings are my own opinion. If you differ, that's fine. The schools are just samples:

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue

I think RU can get to Level 2 within the next ten years.

There's no reason why we can't become a team like Wisconsin or Michigan State. When we get the right coach and staff in here and keep more of the top NJ kids in state plus recruiting nationally, Rutgers can be come a consistent 9 to 10 win team with the occasional phenom season.

I would like to see Rutgers consistently as a top 25 team.

 

[WhiteBus]

It's ironic you ask what I am smoking in a post where you argue a comment I didn't make.(Rutgers isn't a great college?).

OK explain your spew why NJ kids will never come to Rutgers. If you agree that it's a great college, where with the right coach do they fail?
And do you agree that Rutgers is a great college? Or is your response a fake too?

 

[RUBigFrank]

before any of those steps forward - the administration and the faculty need to get behind the football team and overall athletic program.

 

[WhiteBus]

before any of those steps forward - the administration and the faculty need to get behind the football team and overall athletic program.

That would be ideal but winning is the best solution

 

[Akron Buck]

I think you guys could bounce between level 3 and 2, but you have to get the right coach and you HAVE to have the university and boosters 100% behind you. the crap with your academics have to stop fighting your athletics. They have to work together for the overall betterment of the university.

 

[MozRU]

Group One.

Besides the % who want to over pay for a private education (unless it's an IVY/NESCAC, fools otherwise) Jersey people have a tremendous amount of pride in NJ.

If RU can get another Schiano who can also coach on Saturdays NO REASON we can't become the USC of the East.


ZERO. We got the acedemics, the Tri-State power, recruits. ZERO EXCUSES NOT TO BE IN GROUP ONE

 

[jason21psu]

Posted this in another thread but seems appropriate here too:

I feel like you guys have the chicken/egg problem in that it's harder to recruit without tradition/fan support thus making it harder to win which leads to low fan support. It really takes catching lightening in a bottle with hiring the right coach that can improve recruiting and win some games. But then there is the problem where the coach will likely move on. So you need someone with a reason to stay for the long haul. It's incredibly hard to make the jump to being one of the 15 or 20 programs that are destination jobs for coaches. Oregon might be the most recent team to do it. It is taking them gobs of Nike cash to get it done and really the jury is still out if they are going to make it post Chip Kelly/Marcus Mariota.

 

[koleszar]

Posted this in another thread but seems appropriate here too:

I feel like you guys have the chicken/egg problem in that it's harder to recruit without tradition/fan support thus making it harder to win which leads to low fan support. It really takes catching lightening in a bottle with hiring the right coach that can improve recruiting and win some games. But then there is the problem where the coach will likely move on. So you need someone with a reason to stay for the long haul. It's incredibly hard to make the jump to being one of the 15 or 20 programs that are destination jobs for coaches. Oregon might be the most recent team to do it. It is taking them gobs of Nike cash to get it done and really the jury is still out if they are going to make it post Chip Kelly/Marcus Mariota.

Well there you have it folks we should all pack up our toys and go home. The play date's over before it even started in the B1G. psu's got the tradition fan support and money. While we're at it let's just rename the territory of NJ to East Pennsylvania that way they can say they get all their own in state recruits. These two years have been a blast it's time to close shop you hear that Bobby and John might as well close down Scarlet Nation it's over. Funny thing is I agree with you what's more funny is why do you even waste your time here we're down and telling us we're going to have an impossible task to ever be respectable really doesn't help. It only feeds your ego that psu is superior to RU in your own mind. And before you try to defend your post as being a thoughtful piece, it wasn't you came here with the direct intention to remind us of how tough a climb we have and that in no way should we ever think about being superior to psu. That's all your post was.

 

[e5fdny]

Do you know how long I've been hearing that?

I know, I know.

But even you, as the eternal optimist has to think Jelly's post is at the very least a possibility...

I will tell you my opinion on what the reasonable performance I might expect RU could achieve - or at least strive for achieving - over the next 10-15 years. You then tell me the "level" that qualifies for:

Over every 10-year period, I believe it is reasonable for RU's Administration and fans to expect:

1) ONE year where RU wins the Big Ten East Division - thus challenges for the Big Ten title ... though it is possible all the stars would have to align for this to happen ... which does occur every once in a while.

2) TWO seasons where RU wins 9-10 games, but falls short of the Big Ten East Division title ... but would have RU qualify for a New Years' Day bowl.

3) FIVE or SIX seasons where RU wins from 6 to 8 regular season games, and qualifies for a Big Ten affiliated bowl ... and hopefully wins the bowl game 3 or 4 of those 5 years.

4) ONE or TWO rebuilding years, where RU falls short of the 6 regular season wins for a .500 record.

I believe RU is not quite there yet in terms of having the quality of athletes, or even maybe the quality of coaching, to certainly be able to achieve the 10-year record I cite as a reasonable expectation. But I think RU COULD get there - and SHOULD aim for that type of program accomplishment.

I think that those who think RU can get to your Level 1 in the next 10-15 years need an intervention and counseling. It is just not going to happen any time soon, if at all. Wisconsin and Stanford would be the "dream" accomplishments longer term. Iowa the more realistic nearer term.

And as I have said all along in these type of threads...

Would love to get to a level of Hayden Fry's Iowa teams (which started when he got a B1G time QB in Chuck Long) and evolve into Barry Alverez's Wisky program for FB and a Wisky-type Athletic program overall.

 

[RU#1fan]

Provincial thinking. That ship has sailed. There is plenty of talent out there. We need good players, period. Think Boise State or Nebraska when it comes to recruiting. The "Recruit NJ" stuff is hackneyed/Mr. Magoo thinking. If we stop with provincial hires we can get beyond the "Recruit NJ" nonsense. Too much water has flowed under that bridge.

BS.
The top tier teams in the B1G keep their fair share of local top talent home.
Right now RU keeps absolutely Zero. A total embarssment . This must change if we are to progress.

 

[krup]

OK explain your spew why NJ kids will never come to Rutgers. If you agree that it's a great college, where with the right coach do they fail?
And do you agree that Rutgers is a great college? Or is your response a fake too?

I don't know which issue you should tackle first, your reading comprehension issues or anger problems. The phrase I used was better college team. "Great school" was just an invention of your mind.

The point I was making was this...NJ is probably the only state in the union where the HS football system trains kids to NOT be loyal to their hometown team (because many of the best players instead travel to attend parochial schools because they have the best football teams). Rutgers is not going to get most kids who have already proven they are willing to travel because traveling means playing for a "winner", to instead stay home and play for a college that isn't winning. Rutgers needs to find a way to win with recruits from all over the region, ,THEN the elite NJ players will start jumping on the bandwagon.

 

[Scarlet_Scourge]

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue
.

Level 4: We are here now
Level 3: We used to be here before Flood took over
Level 2: We been here a few times in history but rarely if not ever for more than a season or two, basically dropping back to level 3 or even 4 at times soon afterwards.
Level 1: Never been here, and maybe we will never get there, at least not long term without seriously changing the culture of New Jersey.

So with the right HC, due to the talent in NJ and surrounding states and our bridge to Florida kids who want to leave their state, we can get to Level 2 on a full time basis. This will take a long time, maybe about 9-10 years if we commit to it.

Level 1 might be out of reach for the most part, as long as players and PARENTS feel their their 4 and 5 star kids "deserved" to go to traditional powers or any school not in NJ. Those parents who spend $10,000's or sometimes $100,000's in private schools, camps and coaching do not want their investment to go to Rutgers.

That can change with Rutgers winning a national championships and thus changing the script, but that will be really hard to do without a full team of 4 and 5 star players like the really elite teams have. How would we ever get past the other Level 1's without that type of talent and depth? Unless we have some crazy miracle, every ball bounces our way type of season, this may never happen.

 

[e5fdny]

Level 4: We are here now
Level 3: We used to be here before Flood took over
Level 2: We been here a few times in history but rarely if not ever for more than a season or two, basically dropping back to level 3 or even 4 at times soon afterwards.
Level 1: Never been here, and maybe we will never get there, at least not long term without seriously changing the culture of New Jersey.

I can agree with the Level 4 thing.

But not so sure on the 3 and 2. I don't think having a few good weeks in a season counts.

 

[NickyNewark51]

What level do you think RU football can become realistically, notwithstanding your current feelings about the admin., coach, etc.? My rankings are my own opinion. If you differ, that's fine. The schools are just samples:

Level 1 - "Traditional" and winning - Alabama, Ohio St., USC, ND, Oklahoma
Level 2 - Fla. St., Wisc., Mich St., Clemson,Auburn, Stanford
Level 3 - Va. Tech, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa
Level 4 - Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue

I think RU can get to Level 2 within the next ten years.

Agreed....level 2 about our style...level 1 takes 50 yrs IMO and requires selling you're soul which we won't do in NJ...somethings are just more important than FB..