But Rutgers signed up for this.
Everyone talks about how better financially we are in the Big Ten than ACC or AAC.
Well that's why we have the schedule we do.
Can't have one without the other.
A lot of people seem to skip over this.
The whole "Sure Team X won. But let them play our schedule and see the results" is total BS.
These other schools aren't getting tens of millions more to fund their program like Rutgers is year after year.
Want an easier schedule? Give up the money then too.
I don't think that is what anyone here has advocated for.
Only 22 years ago Rutgers was one of the most inept, if not the most inept football program in the country. Then Greg came, and along the way the old, respected and formidable Big East football conference started to crumble and then it disappeared, morphing into the American Athletic Conference in 2013. Greg made a lot of gains along the way, and Rutgers football was on solid footing and poised to make a solid entry into the B1G.
But Rutgers did the Rutgers thing and let the factions who complained about money spent on athletics to cheap out on a head coach and his assistant budget leaving a guy who should never have been hired as a head coach to nose dive the program. Our flagship year in the B1G was 2014, largely because someone found it OK to spend $500K (IIRC) on Ralph Friedgen as an OC.
After that, we know what happened. We let the BOG drive the hiring bus off the cliff, and they listened to Barry Alvarez and Urban Meyer sing the praises and rubber stamp the hire of another disASHter of a head coach. As if Flood had not plumbed the depths of low, Ash sank us lower.
We actually have yet to receive "more" money. Remember, we got a shit deal on the way in. In 2020, Rutgers got $28.64 Million, and in 2021, $43.71 Million.
You know what others are/were getting up until recently? More than double:
What we are getting is pretty much on par with what we would have gotten in the ACC.
So maybe now that the money playing field will soon be "level," and for the first time since our entry into the B1G we have a defensive coordinator and an offensive coordinator with B1G experience at another team, and a willingness to spend money to get coordinators and coaches, things will level out. Last time Rutgers opened up the wallet to get a pro with experience in Ralph Friedgen, RU did pretty well. Maybe the last time we did that was with Ash, and even with the Ash handicap, having Jerry Kill on staff paid dividends, giving Ash his "best" year at Rutgers at 4-8//3-6. But remember, we had Jay Niemann as DC.
Next year will be the first time in B1G history RU will have two seasoned coordinators with B1G experience at other schools as coordinators. Maybe it will make a difference. Maybe it won't. And the money will be rolling in too. Who's with me, besides
@rutgersal ?
Let's gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!