For the "All Tim did is answer the phone" crowd, Tim certainly maintained on-going dialogue with Delany starting from before Nebraska was selected to join the Big Ten in 2010, until Rutgers got its invitation about 2 years later. And through those conversations, Delany and Pernetti certainly shared plans, concerns, expectations, and perspective. (But that also makes Tim's bungling of the Schiano/Flood transition even more baffling, especially if there is truth to the claim that Schiano wouldn't have left if he knew we were going to the Big Ten.)
But by no means should you believe that Delany invited Rutgers because he and Pernetti called each other on a regular basis. Delany selected Rutgers because it made great business sense to increase the value of the conference
Ever since Penn St joined the Big Ten in the 1990s, the Big Ten has looked at Rutgers as a possible inclusion for eastward expansion. Rutgers had a lot which made it a good fit: Geography, Flagship state university, AAU member, not historically tied to another conference. The problem was Rutgers athletic were poor to mediocre, and there was too much risk that Rutgers would be a financial drain on the conference.
Two events changed that calculus: the creation of BTN, and the 2006 Texas Bowl. BTN introduced a nee revenue stream, and the Texas Bowl proved that Rutgers could be leverage to enhance that revenue.
The 2006 Texas Bowl capped off a wildly successful season for Rutgers. Unfortunately the bowl game was set to be televised on the NFL Network, a fledgling cable network which was struggling to get broad distribution by cable providers. Most Rutgers fans would have been unable to watch the game. That sparked a revolt by Rutgers fans that brought the NFL and all major cable companies to their knees, and they buckled and agreed to widely distribute the game.
That was the Aha moment for the Big Ten. If Rutgers fans had enough consumer power to get cable companies to buckle on the Texas Bowl, they could do the same thing for the BTN. And that, in fact, did happen when Rutgers joined the Big Ten, adding to the value of the conference.
So, certainly fans get the most credit for Rutgers joining the Big Ten. But the fan power of the 2006 Texas Bowl doesn't happen without the 2006 football season, and that doesn't happen without Schiano and Mulcahy's hiring and support of Schiano.