just got 4 star Cliff Omoryi 6"10 out of NJ....offers from a ton of big schools including Kentucky and out recruited Maryland as well. They had a good year this year and looks like they got some momentum going.
Rutgers...trending up
- Thread starter loyolacat
- Start date
Most of you probably do not remember Rutgers 1976. Rutgers had an amazing team lead by Phil Sellers, Hollis Copeland, Mike Dabney, Eddie Jordan and Jim Bailey. They blew away teams early in the year but as they approached March , the pressure of being undefeated began to show. They reached the Final Four but lost to Michigan(?) after 34 consecutive wins
Phil Sellers, their star, was a "tweener" to small for a forward and not quick enough to play guard. Jim Bailey and Hollis Copeland had the most success in the NBA
Phil Sellers, their star, was a "tweener" to small for a forward and not quick enough to play guard. Jim Bailey and Hollis Copeland had the most success in the NBA
They have a good coach and fertile recruiting grounds in NYC, Jersey, Philly and other populous Eastern areas. They've got a long road ahead in football, but I think they might be a force to be reckoned with in basketball for some years ahead, especially with the homecourt pit they have.
NJ is also a great football state, but there is very little "state" identity in the northeast the way you see in the midwest and the south. Rutgers is a pretty good academic schools but has trouble owning the state the way, for example, Wisconsin does. Its also not a beautiful campus to sell.
For some reason, people with money in NJ think small private schools are worth it for prestige. The truth is Rutgers was that little private school until it accepted the offer from the stat to be the state university around WW2. Still, it remained small until the 70s when it diversified itself with five distinct campuses within the New Brunswick location. Rutgers has never lost its academic identity or rep.
It not an ugly campus just because people parrot the statement. Each campus has a different look. College Ave campus is urban. Douglass campus is all girls while next to it is Cook campus, which is the science and agriculture campus. It's a full-fledged farm next to an urban area. Across the river is Busch campus (football stadium), and it's suburban just like Livingston (basketball arena).
You have to stop with the stereotypes because president Barich launched a masterplan five years ago to spend $2 billion over the next decade to build new buildings and refurbish older buildings to create a unified look throughout New Brunswick/Piscataway location. Along with the state and New Brunswick's building corporation (DEVO) funding, they have transformed the look of the school.
As for football, there hasn't been a reason for local players to stay except for Schiano. He had nationally ranked teams and recruiting classes in the early 2000s his first time around. Schiano is back, and the state has thrown its support behind him again. Even the governor and other politicians in Trenton are displaying support for Rutgers. That's hard to believe because politicians in NJ don't support anything that doesn't help them politically or financially. The buzz he had the first time is back, and recruits are drawn to Schiano. It's going to take some time to get the program to respectability. Chris Ash did a number on the program. When Schiano gets the program going, the place will be rocking, just like the RAC for basketball. Schiano had the program rocking and the stadium rocking his last few years at Rutgers before leaving the first time.
Not everybody gets to have a lakefront campus. With views of the Chicago skyline. And there's only 10 of us in the Top 10 Universities in the Country. Rutgers is a strong public institution of higher learning. It serves its educational/public mission well. The Campuses? Location. Location. Location.
I hope the revenue sports improve significantly. More good teams, especially among our Eastern brethren, is good for everybody in the BIG.
GOUNUII
Re: the state identity, I met a few Jersey natives at NU and they seemed extremely connected to being from Jersey, but mostly in a self-effacing, underdog sort of way.
I've seen pictures of the view and it's beautiful, but not everyone has more fortune 500 companies a stone throw away.
In fact, one (Johnson & Johnson headquarters) is located on the campus (College Ave.) Rutgers has a train stop in the heart of the College Ave campus which takes you straight into Midtown Manhattan 35 minutes away. 50 minutes the other way to Philadelphia.I'm just glad Rutgers is involved with large state schools (and NW
) of similar ideology. Couldn't stand being around Syracuse and Boston College types. Great schools, but asshat people. They would mock their grandmother just for the hell of it, so they can say they are the best.doc, there's even a "big ten elite" on that Rutgers '76 team. Dickey V recruited most of those guys you mentioned to RU. He was crushed when he didn't get the HC gig a few years prior. He then left to go coach at U of Detroit in '74, I believe.
I especially love when they show the Rutgers home gym of that time with the benches, then a wall behind them. Bleachers were only one side of the court!! Looks like my grade school gym.
I especially love when they show the Rutgers home gym of that time with the benches, then a wall behind them. Bleachers were only one side of the court!! Looks like my grade school gym.
It's called the "Barn" and has seating on three sides. The Gym is located on the original plot of land where the first football game (1869) between Rutgers and Princeton took place (College Ave. Campus). On the other side of the wall is an Olympic size pool once used for the swim and diving teams. The basketball team left the Barn in '77 and the swim and diving teams left in '90. Swim and diving teams moved to the Busch Campus in the new (at the time) Sonny Weblin Rec Center.
The basketball team moved into the RAC on Livingston Campus in '77 along with the New Jersey Nets. The original seating capacity was just under 10K. Since then, the capacity has been reduced to 8K. About seven years ago, Rutgers started the process of remodeling the RAC. The AD got fired. The project was dropped. The new AD Hobbs (along with the outgoing President Barich) put together a plan to upgrade all sports facilities alongside the master plan to upgrade the school campus-wide. Since Hobb's arrival, the football team has installed new practice fields, locker rooms, and a weight room. The baseball/softball teams have a new indoor practice facility. It's about 2/3 of a regular field. They can conduct infield practice and drills. Also, it contains batting cages and pitching mounds. And they have new locker rooms.
This past fall, the APC opened to allow the basketball (men & women), wrestling and gymnastics teams to run around in a new practice facility through private funding of $100 million. Schedule to open this coming December is the new Academic Center along with soccer and lacrosse offices & locker rooms through a private donation of $40 million. Scheduled to break ground by the summer of 2021 is a new football indoor practice fieldhouse. The cost is expected to be around $150 million through public and private fundraising. As for the RAC, fundraising has started (a year ago) with the hopes of having enough to start on remodeling sometime by end of the 2021-22 season. The goal is to increase the seating capacity to around 9500 with luxury boxes and other amenities. This is all part of a $2 billion + campus master plan.
Growing up in Princeton, the first football game of the year was always Rutgers v Princeton (excluding Eagles v Giants preseason). Princeton was dominant until the mid 60's when Rutgers started playing the big boys . The traditional rivalry game was dropped when the disparity in talent was too great for Princeton to overcome.
For all you struggling HS coaches, take a look at Princeton's single wing from the early 60's. A "sweep" would have the QB, wingback, full back and 2 linemen from the strong side(unbalanced line) leading the tailback around the end.
There was a HS in Loudon County VA that was the doormat of their league. A new coach installed the single wing and several state championships followed.
Some of the old formations would still be effective in HS football-Charley Caldwell's single wing, Tubby Raymond's winged T etc
For all you struggling HS coaches, take a look at Princeton's single wing from the early 60's. A "sweep" would have the QB, wingback, full back and 2 linemen from the strong side(unbalanced line) leading the tailback around the end.
There was a HS in Loudon County VA that was the doormat of their league. A new coach installed the single wing and several state championships followed.
Some of the old formations would still be effective in HS football-Charley Caldwell's single wing, Tubby Raymond's winged T etc
Pikiell is an excellent coach. After decades of bad or mediocre ones, they stumbled upon a really good one. If he keeps building the program at the rate he's going, more prestigious programs will be on the phone sooner than later.
Although it's been 30 years since they made the NCAA tournament. They haven't been as bad as perception makes them out to be. Throughout the 60s, 70s, and 80s, the program made several trips to the NCAA tournament, including a Final 4 and Sweet Sixteen appearance. From the 90s until 2006, Rutgers was a solid program with multiple (6) trips to the NIT ('04 championship game against Michigan). The program just couldn't get over the hump to get into the NCAA tournament. Once they fired Gary Waters in '06 over some shady mess between the AD and a backstabbing assistant coach Fred Hill Jr., the program hasn't been any good until now. People re-wrote the history of Rutgers basketball as a forever bad program.
Waters flopped there and wisely escaped. Kevin Bannon was an embarrassment beyond belief, only exceeded by nutcase Mike Rice. Eddie Jordan was a disaster, as well. Somehow, they lucked out with Pikiell, who is better than those guys by a factor of 10.
Waters could coach, but he never put any effort into connecting with local recruits or fans. That is why Fred Hill stabbed him in the back to get the job. FYI: Waters had more success than Collins has had at NW. Bannon should have never been hired. Rice was better as a coach and recruiter than Waters, but his problem was controlling his anger. Rutgers was slowly trending up with him when the video came out showing him abusing his players. Anyone who followed the program knew Jordan wasn't hired to win, but survive the nightmare. The position was poison after the Rice episode and no one would take it. Also, the outgoing AD didn't help the situation with her own abuse situation years ago at Nebraska. People around the program asked Jordan to take the job to help the school save face. Jordan will always be an all-time great for Rutgers....just not coaching.
They didn't luck up with Pike. He was targeted as the first choice. Plus, Pike had made it known he was interested in the job. He wanted to stay local since he's from Connecticut.
That's a pretty low bar. You're viewing it through rose-colored glasses. Many coaches can be successful, yet cannot get it done at the highest level in the college game. It's a completely different level in terms of recruiting. Brian Gregory is a good example of another coach like Waters.
It that like you looking though purple-colored glasses?
When it comes to wins and losses, of course, it doesn't pass the eye test. You know as well as I do people who follow things closely see change and improvements well before others. What prevented the growing success to blow up was a lot of petty behind the scenes crap that's par for the course at Rutgers.
For some reason, you think I'm trying to make Rutgers out to be a blue blood who fell off. Rutgers has been mostly a program that was competitive but fell on extremely hard times over the last 10 years.
I assume you mean Jeffress and Baldwin. As I'm sure you know, Jeffress has re-classified to 2020 and Baldwin is a 2021.
You seem very knowledgable about Rutgers and Jersey hoops. I'm curious, why do you think Seton Hall has been able to thrive while Rutgers has struggled? Seton Hall had the magical Final Four run in 1989, but they have had some NBA Players as well as some tourney appearances (I think a few Sweet 16s) since then. This year, they were a dark horse pick to make a deep run.
Also, the newly announced Chicago Bulls GM (Arturus Karnisovas) played hoops on one of those Seton Hall tourney teams so it seems as if the program has some NBA cred as well. You could even count PJ Carlisimo in that category
Rutgers is a more selective and highly regarded college with more alumni and better grad programs (medicine/law/business). Also it has a nicer campus than SHU. Yet their recent history (last 30 years or so) is very different. Thoughts on why that is? Is it proximity to NYC? South Orange isn't exactly a happening college town although the City is only a 20 minute train ride. Is it the Cluck-U Wings? They can't really compete with the Grease Trucks.
First, nothing compares to the Grease Trucks.
Back in the late 70s, when the Big East was forming (talks), Rutgers was offered a spot at the table. At the time, Rutgers was the best team (basketball) in the NYC metro area along with a solid football program under Frank Burns. Not St. Johns or Seton Hall. In fact, Seton Hall was equal to MAAC teams at the time. JoPa wanted to start an all-sports league at the time with all of the Eastern Independents (Rutgers, Penn St., Pitt, Syracuse, Temple, Boston College, and West Virginia). Rutgers had to decide at the time. Rutgers' AD (Fred Gruninger) had his nose so far up Penn State's *ss, and when PSU passed gas, it blew Gruninger's brains out. The word around most of those in the know said the league wasn't realistic because Penn State wanted to control the narrative. Syracuse and Boston College figured this out and worked out a deal to join the Big East without JoPa's knowledge. Pitt kept the seat warm while Rutgers put all of its eggs in the basket with PSU. Rutgers' AD Gruninger passed on the Big East offer and actually recommended Seton Hall in its place. The Eastern all-sports league never happened, and PSU started contacting different leagues to join. Rutgers had no interest in joining a league other than an Eastern sports league or the B1G.
Syracuse, Pitt, and Boston College still needed a home for their football teams. Rutgers and West Virginia needed a place for their football teams as well, and all of these independent football programs convinced the Big East to sponsor a football league. Within a few years, the Big East accepted Rutgers and West Virginia in all sports, along with Virginia Tech and Miami. Anyone with common sense knew this league wouldn't last as configured. Football grew in importance and money, but basketball schools felt the league's name was tied to basketball. When it became clear Syracuse, Louisville, West Virginia, and Rutgers were leaving, the basketball schools kicked the football schools out. Hence, you now have the AAC. Rutgers was the only school that had to spend time in the AAC (one year) before moving on to the B1G.
What also contributed to Rutgers; struggles: It comes down to a lousy AD (Gruninger '76-'00). He was the former golf coach and it showed in his ability to make decisions. He should have never been hired, but the former President Bloustein didn't believe sports shouldn't be front and center. Bloustein openly wished Rutgers played old rivalries again like Princeton, Lehigh, Lafayette, and Columbia from back at the turn of the century (1900). It one reason why sports have always been underfunded due to poor leadership. Gruninger just took the ball and ran with it until he retired.
I do believe the current AD (Hobbs) is more a sports guy. He was the Seton Hall AD at one time. The first thing he did was invest heavily in basketball. He hired Pikiell and opened a $110 million (private & public donations) new practice facility for basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics. This fall ($40 million private contributions), Rutgers will open a new academic build along with new soccer and lacrosse facilities. Two years ago Hobbs raised $10 million to rebuild the outdoor practice fields for football and $8 million that covered the new weight room for football. Schedule to break ground, hopefully, by the end of 2021, is the new fieldhouse ($150 million through private & public donations) for football. Hobbs, along with the new president (Jonathan Holloway of Northwestern), have stated a clear mission for the athletic department. Both men understand the importance of sports as it relates to academics. Pikiell and Schiano have received just about everything they've asked for so far.
FYI: Rutgers is raising money to refurbish the RAC for basketball.
Thanks for the informative reply! I really appreciate it. I've always viewed Rutgers as a sleeping giant when it came to hoops. So many great guards left Northern NJ to play ball elsewhere: Kyrie Irving, Brevin Knight, Bobby Hurley, Jason Williams, DuJuan Wagner, Randy Foye etc. If Rutgers ever started tapping into that Northern NJ Pipeline (Newark, Camden, the Oranges) they would be a player in the Big 10.
Rutgers is basically the Illinois of the East Coast. If the Illini ever consistently got the best players in Chicago, they would have a dozen final four trips.
Rutgers is basically the Illinois of the East Coast. If the Illini ever consistently got the best players in Chicago, they would have a dozen final four trips.
