Yes, I agree, first round exit to Hofstra in NIT vs National Championship, we definitely got the better end of that deal. Why can't people on this board simply say Pike is a good solid coach but Hurley is a better coach with a greater upside. And the idea Hurley would have left Rutgers if he won really sells the University, conference, and area short.
The Hurley Mistake
- Thread starter RUsojo
- Start date
If we had Hurley there would be plenty of NIL money. The money follows that type of coach.
No way. Money comes from rich alumni willing to open their wallets. Pike has shown we can be successful and the wallets opened a bit but we are nowhere close and likely never will be. Rutgers alums are typically tightwads.
Stretch much?
He wasn't coming here because of money and his wife did not want to be in NJ.
Some of our fans are pathetic and obsess over the most ridiculous what ifs and what could have beens.
But let's look at Mario's record at FIU (it was worse than Flood's record in a better conference-save it, blah, blah, blah, Greg's recruits, blah, blah, blah, destroyed the program, blah, blah blah--Mario was horrific in his first go round as a HC, and this was his territory) :
So now we are counting the first 3 years of a rebuild and judging the competence of the coach based on that record? Amazing how some posters give a complete bye to Schiano for the same period and hold other coaches accountable. The hypocrisy on this board can really be something.
This is funny. If it were't rugers? No crap. It was a horrible job and Hurley was to scared to take it. He didnt want to ruin his college coaching prospects before they even started. The rutgers program was in too bad of shape and the risk was too big for him.
Hurley went to a perfect place with a history of winning national championships. He made the smart decision by passing on the rutgers job. On top of that you wanted rutgers to hire a guy who couldnt even win the NEC title?
I feel bad for pikiell. a guy who put in years of winning could only get the rutgers job where hurley who couldnt win the NEC gets UCONN. crazy world we live in.
All Hobbs had to do was say yes. The contract was reasonable. If Hobbs had the courage…
Oh yeah . Dumb plum !!
Hurley is first not alum assistant to win from bannon coaching tree !
Sorry it was early in the am and I definitely worded that incorrectly. I meant it's a different story as I couldn't remember.
PIkes is the perfect guy for RU. Program builder. I'm glad we have him.
This might be an April Fools Joke of a thread, but let's be realistic.....winning games and National Titles has more to do with buying players, mixed with some commitment. Not every school does this.
BUT, the thread and Hurley, or Kevin Ollie, the former coach, is irrelevant.
UCONN, like a handful of schools, can hire me, you or anyone with a clue about basketball and walk away with a winning record and NCAA births most years.....same for a school like Kansas, UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, UNC etc.
What the OP fails to realize is UCONN as a program or school, has failed itself, where RU has succeeded by actually investing in infrastructure and facilities....
In the early 1990s, RU separated itself from a UConn and a LOT of others, by investing a little bit into the infrastructure and expanding the RU football stadium. And that move, separated RU from a UConn forever. Some moves are actually WAY more relevant to survival and growth.....UConn can win another National Title in the next 3 to 5 years and will still just be UConn, which is a CBB storyline.....they will never be viewed like a Private school like Duke or others, because they don't do much of anything else well......with all of this winning, they're in a massive financial deficit and NO path out.
On the other hand, RU invested into it's football program, elevated the schools profile and won big games in the 2005 to 2011 range....and even though the UCONN program actually went to a Fiesta Bowl or split another conference title in football, what have they secured with it.....?? A full trophy case, which is great.....but so did Cincinnati in the same era as well.
If UConn actually did something, anything other than luck into Jim Calhoun (similarly to RU finding luck in Schiano 1.0 and now Steve Pikiell), it would be significantly better for them. Maybe they'd be in the ACC....maybe with 4 National Titles before last night and how many with Geno, what's their path to solvency??? They have none I can see.
In time, I know people fail to see anything while the process happens, but RU investing in football 30 years ago, is why RU is in the B1G today and UConn is not.
UConn is still not going to be a true college sports story, until they close that loop and get onto the map for College Football....and it's an anchor that 5 National Titles cannot solve.
Do I think RU, with a full share of legitimate revenue for the 1st time since the B1G and the new media rights deal, can be better overall in football and close the gap in basketball with a lot of other programs.....?? YES, it's a matter of when, not IF.
The name of the game still starts and ends with Football, my friends.....RU still has the path towards real success in the next 20 to 40 years, much more than any product on the Eastern Coast. It just takes a real hire on the football side, another investment into football coaching that fixes that side....THEN we can see where things stand down the road.
Congrats to UConn for winning NC # 5.....and in another 3 to 4 weeks, the cycle of sports continues and we ramp up for football recruiting, hoops recruiting and things for RU will keep improving....maybe not fast enough for me or most, but I'd rather have a path towards success in the next 30 years than being the guy pointing back to "look what I did here 20 years ago".....
BUT, the thread and Hurley, or Kevin Ollie, the former coach, is irrelevant.
UCONN, like a handful of schools, can hire me, you or anyone with a clue about basketball and walk away with a winning record and NCAA births most years.....same for a school like Kansas, UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, UNC etc.
What the OP fails to realize is UCONN as a program or school, has failed itself, where RU has succeeded by actually investing in infrastructure and facilities....
In the early 1990s, RU separated itself from a UConn and a LOT of others, by investing a little bit into the infrastructure and expanding the RU football stadium. And that move, separated RU from a UConn forever. Some moves are actually WAY more relevant to survival and growth.....UConn can win another National Title in the next 3 to 5 years and will still just be UConn, which is a CBB storyline.....they will never be viewed like a Private school like Duke or others, because they don't do much of anything else well......with all of this winning, they're in a massive financial deficit and NO path out.
On the other hand, RU invested into it's football program, elevated the schools profile and won big games in the 2005 to 2011 range....and even though the UCONN program actually went to a Fiesta Bowl or split another conference title in football, what have they secured with it.....?? A full trophy case, which is great.....but so did Cincinnati in the same era as well.
If UConn actually did something, anything other than luck into Jim Calhoun (similarly to RU finding luck in Schiano 1.0 and now Steve Pikiell), it would be significantly better for them. Maybe they'd be in the ACC....maybe with 4 National Titles before last night and how many with Geno, what's their path to solvency??? They have none I can see.
In time, I know people fail to see anything while the process happens, but RU investing in football 30 years ago, is why RU is in the B1G today and UConn is not.
UConn is still not going to be a true college sports story, until they close that loop and get onto the map for College Football....and it's an anchor that 5 National Titles cannot solve.
Do I think RU, with a full share of legitimate revenue for the 1st time since the B1G and the new media rights deal, can be better overall in football and close the gap in basketball with a lot of other programs.....?? YES, it's a matter of when, not IF.
The name of the game still starts and ends with Football, my friends.....RU still has the path towards real success in the next 20 to 40 years, much more than any product on the Eastern Coast. It just takes a real hire on the football side, another investment into football coaching that fixes that side....THEN we can see where things stand down the road.
Congrats to UConn for winning NC # 5.....and in another 3 to 4 weeks, the cycle of sports continues and we ramp up for football recruiting, hoops recruiting and things for RU will keep improving....maybe not fast enough for me or most, but I'd rather have a path towards success in the next 30 years than being the guy pointing back to "look what I did here 20 years ago".....
I think it was after Mike Rice and he was going to come temporarily to keep Myles Mack in the program etc...
Can you simply say that UConn is a better basketball school with a better donor base and a greater upside in fostering a winning tradition and that plays into Hurley's success? He's a very good coach and recruiter - but to completely ignore 5 National Championships with 3 different coaches in the time that RU made the tournament just twice under like 7 different coaches. Perhaps you feel Rutgers should have hired Kevin Ollie?
Why is it that RU Fans feel that college athletics is similar to professional sports? While we want to point fingers at the AD.....other successful schools realize that programs are built and sustained by fans and benefactors. Pike has gotten us from bottom feeder to the point where we are in play and have even attracted Top Level ranked recruits....from games where opposing teams had more fans in the seats at the RAC than RU to streaks of sold out games and wild crowds.
Not sure why some here need to take the success of others and use it to bash our own program.
Same way they got to a BCS bowl…sometimes those dominoes just line up the right way and then fall the right way too.
That's what I remember. It was more a pre-emptive strike by Nova when they saw we were moving on Wright. At that point it was, "Sorry, Steve, but thank you for your service."
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I believe Jay had agreed to coach us, and Nova came in late and took him away
We wanted him
Pike just seems like a nicer individual
It just a perception and I like Pike more
Not that I thought Pike was leaving, but even if there was a 1% chance that he would go to his alma mater, this should knock that chance down to 0%
Hurley turned down RU. I am so glad that Steve is our coach. Danny is a good coach but when he coached at St. Benedict's his shouting during games was some of the filthiest words I have ever heard from any coach's mouth. I cannot believe a catholic school would allow him to coach after what I heard come out of his mouth. I think he has gotten better over time but I myself am so happy that Steve is our coach. He is such a fine representative for RU and he is respected by so many.
You're proving the point you're arguing against.
Everyone said "Rutgers can't compete with NIL. It's a non-starter". But then a HC actually produced results. And those results lead to NIL money and lead to 5 star elite recruits (Ace Bailey).
It's reasonable to assume that if Hurley (or anyone else) was just as successful at Rutgers then the NIL money would follow. Because that is exactly what happened with HC Pike.
I for one am just thrilled that we aren’t UCONN and got invited to the B1G. Their athletics program is really down the tubes compared to ours….
The story was never about Wright's desire to go to Villanova it was the timing.
The tale Wright himself always told was that he was in the car on the Turnpike on the way to sign the papers with RU when 'Nova called.
So if Wright had decided it was best to take the bird in hand and cook at Applebee's and the ink was already on the contract for 15 minutes when Le Ski Chalet called, the story might have ended differently at least for a little while.
UConn was a bottom feeder in the BE until Calhoun took over. College basketball is all about the coach. He wasn't leaving Rutgers for UConn if he was successful at Rutgers. And UConn wouldn't be National Champions today if Rutgers had hired Hurley.
"The Huskies dominated this men’s tournament with ease, winning all its games by double digits.
UConn didn’t have to face a No. 3 seed or above in this tournament, and, as such, they never trailed in the second half of their last four games and were ahead by at least 18 buckets in all six tournament games." This from the NY Post article about unruly students celebrating on campus. Luck or a great draw helped Uconn tremendously and they took advantage.
UConn didn’t have to face a No. 3 seed or above in this tournament, and, as such, they never trailed in the second half of their last four games and were ahead by at least 18 buckets in all six tournament games." This from the NY Post article about unruly students celebrating on campus. Luck or a great draw helped Uconn tremendously and they took advantage.
As I was saying…
They did what needed to be done when presented with the opportunity.
Although you're generally correct that football drives the bus, I wish I could be more gratified than I am after reading your post. $80 million per year or no, the current state of our football program does not give me the warm fuzzies...
So you think Hurley would have led us to a National Championship? Again not putting down Hurley, but you cannot ignore team back ground:
Hurley 5-years at UConn - 65% Winning %, 1 National Championship
Previous 5 years at UConn - 61% Winning %, 1 National Championship
5-year period before that at UConn - 70% Winning %, 1 National Championship
Hurley "upheld" excellence. All the credit to him, this is not easy to do. A totally different story then building a team up from basically a 40-year lull.
I would only take Pike in my time machine scenario, as realistically I think Pike exceeded ~98% of the realistic scenarios Rutgers faced after his hire. Could Hurley have been that ~2%, perhaps, but I wouldn't take the gamble.
Lots of great programs fall by the wayside. UConn was languishing in the American and a move to a top conference and hiring a great coach brought them back. There is no reason why he couldn’t have done that at Rutgers. Great conference, great location, large amount of top local talent, media, marketing, stop selling our program short and accepting mediocrity.
I could have said the same thing about Kansas 3 years ago in football, now they are better....I could have said the same thing about Wake Forest periodically....now they are competing.....or even NW two years ago in the B1G title game......
The goal is to not look at a one sport program and try and compare apples to apples.
It comes down to what matters and I am not just a basketball fan, football also is something that matters too. I don't think there's any real comparison to a basketball only school and when the football or Power 5 schools break away and form their own league, I will be happy to land there. There's no reason to believe that playing these other schools who don't invest in sports (football specifically), should be elevated to a higher status.
Please work on your facts. Calhoun took over UConn 38 years ago in 1986. In the decade prior to his arrival UConn made the NCAA Tournament twice including a Sweet 16 appearance and the NIT (which was much more relevant at the time) 3 times. They were a pretty good team in the early 80's and a mediocre team in the 2-3 years leading up to Calhoun, but hardly a bottom feeder subject to 70 point blowouts as RU under EJ prior to Pike.
The rest of what you say is subjective and revisionist history in order to create some twisted passive agressive anti-Pike narrative.
- Plain and simply - Hurley rejected coming to RU in order to stay at URI. Lest you forgot - RU was a complete mess at the time coming off first the Rice scandal and assistant coach suing RU followed by the complete bottom falling out under Jordan, so it is not surprising that Hurley ultimately did not want to come here since RU had been pretty much a coaching grave yard.
- UConn has 5 Natties in ~35 years and were champs under Ollie within the past decade - so there is no reason to not think they wouldn't be champs under a different coach besides Hurley.
- If Hurley decided to come to RU and was successful- there really is no way of knowing if he would leave or not. I imagine it would depend on the situation and the offer. For instance Shrewsbury left PSU after quick success.
Maybe RU should have hired Bobby, seems like they're the same person
Check out Bill's son Luke Murray in the bottom right of the video trying not to laugh at them.
Check out Bill's son Luke Murray in the bottom right of the video trying not to laugh at them.
Please stop, going to a few NCAA tournaments does not make you an elite program. They were nothing to speak of before Calhoun, period. The facts are this isn't the pros, kids graduate, programs ebb and flow, Hurley took a faltering program and he turned it into a National Champion, we lost to Hofstra in the first round of the NIT in the 7th year of his tenure. Not dissing Pike, but let's be real.
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