Confirmed: Ash is back next year

[Proud NJ Sports Fan]

If he's retained I won't set foot in that stadium next season

 

[bac2therac]

So instead of finally being in good financial shape, RU athletics will just use the B1G windfall to pay for their incompetence. That’s a winning strategy.

i feared this when we joined..the school is all to happy to just cash paychecks and do the bare minimum to get everything up to snuff..when Barchi tried to bumble his way out of building a practice facility for hoops it was all too clear

 

[Wolv RU]

We joined the B1G in the 2014 season. I was talking about the drop from 2014 to 2018 and you are only giving part of that story. In addition, does your ticket revenue number include seat gifts?

If he's using FYs then 2015 is for 2014 football season and these numbers show only year 1 of Ash era, which are the last to be released I believe.

 

[RU_DIO]

What would happen if the fan base goes to campus and demands change? Could this put pressure on the AD? q

 

[Knight Shift]

Nothing wrong with your post, except that i threw up in my mouth a little bit when I read about the Ok St AD having a background in golf.

Why?
The point of my post, is some fans sound like kids having a temper tantrum-rattling off anything and everything there is to complain about, no matter how nonsensical.
Hindsight is 20-20. Ash has turned out to be a bad hire. Other than a small minority of posters, most of the fanbase was very much behind the Ash hire and expected it to work out. Unfortunately it hasn't. Hobbs can be faulted for the length of the contract and lack of a reduced buyout, but to say he does not have the acumen to assess, hire and fire a football coach is just nonsense. It is not rocket science. I am sure if he is completely clueless on the topic, he can walk down the hall or pick up the phone and talk to Marco Battaglia. Perhaps he knows something about the topic. As if the AD operates in a total vacuum without consulting colleagues and peers. The inane crap people cry about and nitpick here is comedic. Yeah, there is reason to be angry and disappointed with the on field results. But we are stuck with a bad financial situation that Hobbs had nothing to do with.

 

[RutgHoops]

We joined the B1G in the 2014 season. I was talking about the drop from 2014 to 2018 and you are only giving part of that story. In addition, does your ticket revenue number include seat gifts?

2014 ticket revenue was $10.8M. That doesn’t help your argument.

AD donations per year:

2014: $8.1M
2015: $9.8M
2016: $8.8M
2017: $8.1M

I also graduated Rutgers with an Economics degree. Having the data rather than speculation better informs an economic analysis.

 

[Letitrip]

Some of you guys have to to get a grip with the "basketball only" narrative.

Louisville's Athletic Director had no background in athletics when hired. He was formerly a businessman. He played baseball for University of Kentucky. He had no basketball or football background. He fired Bobby Petrino.
Notre Dame's AD is a lawyer. He never served as an AD before becoming AD of Notre Dame in 2008. Has not seemed to have hurt Notre Dame football.
Oklahoma State's AD has a background in golf.
Purdue's AD has a baseball background, and was AD at Georgia Tech before taking the same role at Purdue .

I could go on, but you will just let it rip anyway. Being an AD at a university with a football program is not rocket science.

And as usual your analysis is so flawed I can't even waste my time confronting it. Let me just get to your most ridiculous comparison. Purdue hired a guy with P5 AD experience - we hired a guy with one year interim experience at a basketball only school - but somehow that means RU made a professional competitive choice. You have been exposed more than anyone on this board. No I prepare myself for your juvenile personal attacks.

 

[bac2therac]

Why?
The point of my post, is some fans sound like kids having a temper tantrum-rattling off anything and everything there is to complain about, no matter how nonsensical.
Hindsight is 20-20. Ash has turned out to be a bad hire. Other than a small minority of posters, most of the fanbase was very much behind the Ash hire and expected it to work out. Unfortunately it hasn't. Hobbs can be faulted for the length of the contract and lack of a reduced buyout, but to say he does not have the acumen to assess, hire and fire a football coach is just nonsense. It is not rocket science. I am sure if he is completely clueless on the topic, he can walk down the hall or pick up the phone and talk to Marco Battaglia. Perhaps he knows something about the topic. As if the AD operates in a total vacuum without consulting colleagues and peers. The inane crap people cry about and nitpick here is comedic. Yeah, there is reason to be angry and disappointed with the on field results. But we are stuck with a bad financial situation that Hobbs had nothing to do with.

Huh? Hobbs extended him...he is responsible for that. He has EVERYTHING to do with that

 

[krup]

2014 ticket revenue was $10.8M. That doesn’t help your argument.

AD donations per year:

2014: $8.1M
2015: $9.8M
2016: $8.8M
2017: $8.1M

I also graduated Rutgers with an Economics degree. Having the data rather than speculation better informs an economic analysis.

It’s creative accounting, then. Prices didn’t increase during that time period to match reported season ticket sales totals to those revenue numbers.

 

[Knight Shift]

And as usual your analysis is so flawed I can't even waste my time confronting it. Let me just get to your most ridiculous comparison. Purdue hired a guy with P5 AD experience - we hired a guy with one year interim experience at a basketball only school - but somehow that means RU made a professional competitive choice. You have been exposed more than anyone on this board. No I prepare myself for your juvenile personal attacks.

Just let it rip, dude.
I pointed out the Purdue AD as at Georgia Tech, first sport, and he had no football experience at quite a formidable football school. I used no personal attacks in my post, but as usual, you just let it rip with insults. Have a good night, pal.

 

[RU_DIO]

Hobbs gave a 7 year agreement to a first time head coach. Terrible mistake.

 

[Wolv RU]

It’s creative accounting, then. Prices didn’t increase during that time period to match reported season ticket sales totals to those revenue numbers.

His numbers actually support your argument. They only go up to Ash year 1 as FY 2017 is for 2016 football season.

 

[rucoe89]

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2018/11/rutgers_chris_ash_return.html

Well there ya go

Yup. Shows how most people “in the know” only know squat.

 

[Knight Shift]

Huh? Hobbs extended him...he is responsible for that. He has EVERYTHING to do with that

That's a false narrative. The extension was built into his contract. That's a bit different than offering a new contract to extend the original contract, isn't it?
Putting the automatic extension in there for NCAA sanctions knowing full well what may have been coming down the pike was not the smartest thing to do in hindsight, but as others have pointed out, this is a fairly common clause. Without knowing the details of the negotiation, I am not going to get that upset about it.
Even so, if there were two years left on his contract, not sure that the $5 million difference would make a difference. Hobbs seems committed to the idea that 4 years are needed for rebuilding, whether the fans agree with it or not. That upsets me more than the automatic extension, but I'll get over it.

 

[RutgHoops]

It’s creative accounting, then. Prices didn’t increase during that time period to match reported season ticket sales totals to those revenue numbers.

Because the numbers don’t fit your narrative?

The (reported) facts show our revenue has actually increased from 2014 to 2017 (we obviously haven’t reported 2018 yet), and I wouldn’t be surprised if 2018 is in line with the years 2014-2017. Regardless, all the years are relatively close and ( I would imagine) do not make a compelling case to the President/BOG/whomever as to why the AD would need to destroy his athletic department budget to fire the HC.

That’s my economic analysis.

 

[Letitrip]

That's a false narrative. The extension was built into his contract. That's a bit different than offering a new contract to extend the original contract, isn't it?
Putting the automatic extension in there for NCAA sanctions knowing full well what may have been coming down the pike was not the smartest thing to do in hindsight, but as others have pointed out, this is a fairly common clause. Without knowing the details of the negotiation, I am not going to get that upset about it.
Even so, if there were two years left on his contract, not sure that the $5 million difference would make a difference. Hobbs seems committed to the idea that 4 years are needed for rebuilding, whether the fans agree with it or not. That upsets me more than the automatic extension, but I'll get over it.

Once again you cloud the real story - Everyone knew RU was facing a minimal NCAA sanction because we had already proposed it. Fact is Hobbs negotiated what he knew at the time was a 7 year guaranteed contract. And that was to a guy who had zero head coaching experience at any level. That is unheard of! But of course Hobbs and Ash had the same agent so I kind of understand it.

 

[krup]

His numbers actually support your argument. They only go up to Ash year 1 as FY 2017 is for 2016 football season.

So if his 2015 numbers are the first ( 2014) B1G season, we lost 2.7 million (1 million in tickets and 1.7 in donations) in the two years after that. In the two years since then ticket sales have dropped even more precipitously so, if anything, my $4-5 million number in lost revenue since we joined the B1G is likely to be too low.

 

[bac2therac]

That's a false narrative. The extension was built into his contract. That's a bit different than offering a new contract to extend the original contract, isn't it?
Putting the automatic extension in there for NCAA sanctions knowing full well what may have been coming down the pike was not the smartest thing to do in hindsight, but as others have pointed out, this is a fairly common clause. Without knowing the details of the negotiation, I am not going to get that upset about it.
Even so, if there were two years left on his contract, not sure that the $5 million difference would make a difference. Hobbs seems committed to the idea that 4 years are needed for rebuilding, whether the fans agree with it or not. That upsets me more than the automatic extension, but I'll get over it.

who gave him that contract....and also not sure that it had to be used anyhow...Hobbs ****** up by hiring him which is correctable but by extending him which created this shitshow

 

[krup]

Because the numbers don’t fit your narrative?

The (reported) facts show our revenue has actually increased from 2014 to 2017 (we obviously haven’t reported 2018 yet), and I wouldn’t be surprised if 2018 is in line with the years 2014-2017. Regardless, all the years are relatively close and ( I would imagine) do not make a compelling case to the President/BOG/whomever as to why the AD would need to destroy his athletic department budget to fire the HC.

That’s my economic analysis.

Now that Wolv RU pointed out your numbered years don’t match seasons but fiscal years, we can see that your own numbers show that we have lost 2.7 million in our first two B1G years and likely much more than that in the next two based on ticket sales.

Your 2014 number is meaningless because that is a fiscal year that we were in the AAC.

 

[NBKnight]

Once again you cloud the real story - Everyone knew RU was facing a minimal NCAA sanction because we had already proposed it. Fact is Hobbs negotiated what he knew at the time was a 7 year guaranteed contract. And that was to a guy who had zero head coaching experience at any level. That is unheard of! But of course Hobbs and Ash had the same agent so I kind of understand it.

Just because we proposed some sanctions, it was not known if the NCAA would accept them.

 

[Letitrip]

Just let it rip, dude.
I pointed out the Purdue AD as at Georgia Tech, first sport, and he had no football experience at quite a formidable football school. I used no personal attacks in my post, but as usual, you just let it rip with insults. Have a good night, pal.

I did not insult you other than to once again point out the flaws in you arguments. As for the Purdue AD vs Hobbs comparison lets compare their athletic administration experience.

Purdue AD

3 years as AD at G tech - (FBS P5 football)
15 years as AD at Xavier
4 years aa AD at Akron
5 years as Associate AD at Navy (FBS Football)

Rutgers AD

1 Year interim AD experience at Seton Hall.

Case closed.

 

[ArminRU]

Did you guys really think anything different was going to happen?

 

[Knight Shift]

Once again you cloud the real story - Everyone knew RU was facing a minimal NCAA sanction because we had already proposed it. Fact is Hobbs negotiated what he knew at the time was a 7 year guaranteed contract. And that was to a guy who had zero head coaching experience at any level. That is unheard of! But of course Hobbs and Ash had the same agent so I kind of understand it.

Wrong again about the same agent at the time of the contract, but just let it rip, dude. You accuse me and others of not having facts correct, but you just let it rip without checking your facts.
https://www.app.com/story/sports/co...azant-chris-ash-steve-pikiell-agent/82049858/

 

[Knight Shift]

I did not insult you other than to once again point out the flaws in you arguments. As for the Purdue AD vs Hobbs comparison lets compare their athletic administration experience.

Purdue AD

3 years as AD at G tech - (FBS P5 football)
15 years as AD at Xavier
4 years aa AD at Akron
5 years as Associate AD at Navy (FBS Football)

Rutgers AD

1 Year interim AD experience at Seton Hall.

Case closed.

Your mind is closed. Look at my other examples. You are terrible at having reasoned discussion. I admit the Purdue AD was not a good example. You pick one error, and close the case. let it rip, dude.

 

[NBKnight]

Nice attempt to totally divert attention from the Ash vs Purdue Ad comparison that your proposed an I exposed!

Then you post an article from 2016 that makes this whole RU administration hiring process even more concerning. Great job.

What?

 

[Letitrip]

Wrong again about the same agent at the time of the contract, but just let it rip, dude. You accuse me and others of not having facts correct, but you just let it rip without checking your facts.
https://www.app.com/story/sports/co...azant-chris-ash-steve-pikiell-agent/82049858/

Nice attempt to totally divert attention from the Ash vs Purdue Ad comparison that your proposed and I exposed!

Then you post an article from 2016 that makes this whole RU administration hiring process even more concerning. Great job.

 

[Letitrip]

What?

Sorry - wrong reply....

 

[Letitrip]

Your mind is closed. Look at my other examples. You are terrible at having reasoned discussion. I admit the Purdue AD was not a good example. You pick one error, and close the case. let it rip, dude.

My mind is not closed - I just feel very strongly that Ash has been a horrible hire and Hobbs should be accountable for cost of this mistake like anyone in the private sector would. I will not waiver until I see facts that prove my position wrong. I posted my first warning on this board well before Ash coached his first game so this has not been a hindsight position.

 

[Knight Shift]

My mind is not closed - I just feel very strongly that Ash has been a horrible hire and Hobbs should be accountable for cost of this mistake like anyone in the private sector would. I will not waiver until I see facts that prove my position wrong. I posted my first warning on this board well before Ash coached his first game so this has not been a hindsight position.

OK.
So taking Hobbs' entire body of work, including massive fundraising success, building projects, keeping Vivian Stringer, and hiring Pikiell, what do you propose to do?
Compare Hobbs 3 year tenure with that of his two predecessors, and let me know what you think should be done. And remember, Julie was an epic disaster from a public relations standpoint, and Pernetti hired Flood.

So you and one or two other posters are geniuses, and you can be credited with 20/20 hindsight that Ash was not a good hire. Whoopee. Congratulations. You win the internet. The large majority of this board, the major donors and the fanbase were on board and energized by the hire. The Garrutis, the Browns and the Towers all stepped up with major facilities donations.

What exactly have you contributed to Athletics besides negative comments and feelings on this message board?

What exactly is your proposal.

 

[angmo]

I bet plenty of people said similar things about Schiano in his first few years.

In any event, Hobbs has all the budget numbers. He has access to all the current and prior season actual ticket numbers. He has access to consultants who can model best and worst case revenue projections. He has access to various other data involving areas of athletic department spending that aren't strictly related to football. There may be all kinds of variables we don't know about, including various existing financial plans for which it pays to stay on track and not incur additional debt.

You guys want this to be a simple problem revolving around your happiness as football fans. I get it. I wish it was that simple too. But wishing doesn't make it so.

Maybe the numbers say to fire Ash now and that will happen. Let's wait and see what happens.

If Hobbs has all these resources, why did he base his entire hiring process on some mythical "best interview ever"?

 

[Knight Shift]

If Hobbs has all these resources, why did he base his entire hiring process on some mythical "best interview ever"?

Please point to where the "entire hiring process" was based on this.

 

[Wolv RU]

Now that Wolv RU pointed out your numbered years don’t match seasons but fiscal years, we can see that your own numbers show that we have lost 2.7 million in our first two B1G years and likely much more than that in the next two based on ticket sales.

Your 2014 number is meaningless because that is a fiscal year that we were in the AAC.

Yes. Correct. Reporting always lags behind.

 

[Letitrip]

OK.
So taking Hobbs' entire body of work, including massive fundraising success, building projects, keeping Vivian Stringer, and hiring Pikiell, what do you propose to do?
Compare Hobbs 3 year tenure with that of his two predecessors, and let me know what you think should be done. And remember, Julie was an epic disaster from a public relations standpoint, and Pernetti hired Flood.

So you and one or two other posters are geniuses, and you can be credited with 20/20 hindsight that Ash was not a good hire. Whoopee. Congratulations. You win the internet. The large majority of this board, the major donors and the fanbase were on board and energized by the hire. The Garrutis, the Browns and the Towers all stepped up with major facilities donations.

What exactly have you contributed to Athletics besides negative comments and feelings on this message board?

What exactly is your proposal.

My contribution to Athletics. 36 years a season ticket holder with all the accompanying donations and parking lot surcharges. Currently have 16 tickets in my group. But most importantly we had over one hundred people at our tailgate on Saturday - most of whom would be no where near Piscataway if it weren't for our groups amazing tailgates. Just call me a common man because I have no interest in hanging out near the power brokers of this currently sick program.

 

[Letitrip]

OK.
So taking Hobbs' entire body of work, including massive fundraising success, building projects, keeping Vivian Stringer, and hiring Pikiell, what do you propose to do?
Compare Hobbs 3 year tenure with that of his two predecessors, and let me know what you think should be done. And remember, Julie was an epic disaster from a public relations standpoint, and Pernetti hired Flood.

So you and one or two other posters are geniuses, and you can be credited with 20/20 hindsight that Ash was not a good hire. Whoopee. Congratulations. You win the internet. The large majority of this board, the major donors and the fanbase were on board and energized by the hire. The Garrutis, the Browns and the Towers all stepped up with major facilities donations.

What exactly have you contributed to Athletics besides negative comments and feelings on this message board?

What exactly is your proposal.

My proposal is simple - Hire an experienced successful athletic director with significant D1 football experience who has a history of hiring successful D1 coaches. Have that AD hire a football coach with a proven track record and most importantly one who has charisma and a big presence. (neither need to be P5) Sounds like an impossible task when you have an AD who hired Ash based on this self gratifying "interview". Hiring a football coach has nothing to do with the "interview process and much more to do with connections to the college football club.

 

[angmo]

This is pathetic...He watched youtube and had a few interviews...
Everybody else on that short list had a more accomplished resume than Ash. I wonder if Hobbs youtubed the Arkansas game where Rutgers torched his defense for 400 yards.

https://www.app.com/story/sports/co...ris-ash-hire-rutgers-football-coach/77149374/

 

[RUfromSoCal?]

 

[Caliknight]

And the only reason for that is we have an AD who has exactly 0 experience in any type of organized football. An AD appointed personally by a President who has exactly 0 interest in sports in general. Nothing but self inflicted wounds for four decades running. This school makes it impossible to be a fan.

Someone has been feeding you the wrong info. Barchi didn't appt. Hobbs beyond being a rubber stamp from people above his pay grade.

 

[BIGTENITCH]

Why?
The point of my post, is some fans sound like kids having a temper tantrum-rattling off anything and everything there is to complain about, no matter how nonsensical.
Hindsight is 20-20. Ash has turned out to be a bad hire. Other than a small minority of posters, most of the fanbase was very much behind the Ash hire and expected it to work out. Unfortunately it hasn't. Hobbs can be faulted for the length of the contract and lack of a reduced buyout, but to say he does not have the acumen to assess, hire and fire a football coach is just nonsense. It is not rocket science. I am sure if he is completely clueless on the topic, he can walk down the hall or pick up the phone and talk to Marco Battaglia. Perhaps he knows something about the topic. As if the AD operates in a total vacuum without consulting colleagues and peers. The inane crap people cry about and nitpick here is comedic. Yeah, there is reason to be angry and disappointed with the on field results. But we are stuck with a bad financial situation that Hobbs had nothing to do with.

I think the poster was making a veiled reference that former AD Fred Gruninger was a golf coach.
Fred has been blamed for costing RU many many millions and counting by keeping RU out if the Big East and pursuing an all eastern sports conference in the late 70s and early 80s w Penn state, Syracuse. BC, yada. Though his snotty daughter was a highschool classmate and my pharmacist dad RIP said he was unfriendly (liked the sheas) I do know Mr Gruninger cared and up to a few years ago always seemed to run into him and the Mrs on their way to the Audi club (back from NC). Would always stop for a few words. Also ran a relatively clean sports program.

​

 

[tico brown]

There was only going to be 10,000,000 reasons why he was always coming back in 2019. Nothing happen to change that.

Now once we get the full Big Ten payout, all bets are off.

How do you know that the Rutgers admin will spend that money on athletics?

 

[jreinsdorf]

You know when the times going to be right? Two years. That's when Barchi will complete his only mission for Rutgers Athletics, elimination of Direct Institutional support. He'll then retire with the only legacy he ever wanted to be known for in Athletic endeavors as that's when his new contract runs out.

Agree. This is when i will start to really hope again. Ill obviously be paying attention up till that moment but i have no hope for two years. Thats when we will be making real money and thats when new leadership will likely take place