Rutgers doesn’t win enough because most of you don’t donate enough

Jun 7, 2001
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The only reason we don’t win big, is that most of you aren’t serious about winning. It’s a lot easier to run your big mouth on the messageboard, than write that big check to support the football program.

I have very strong connections to the University of Miami football program, and the biggest reason they played for the National Championship is Money. They paid $4M for their quarterback alone, and also paid a boatload of money for their star right tackle and star defensive end. They literally stole our best defensive player, and compensated him handsomely. He in turn, helped lead them to the National Championship Game, by being a productive tackler.

This is the caliber of talent you need to compete in the big time. We don’t have this caliber of talent, so we do the best we can with what we have. This is the biggest reason we have been mediocre, and will continue to be.

I don’t care what anyone else says, you need money to win Big. Without it, you will be also rans, just as we have been throughout most of our history. We have been trying to Win on the Cheap for the last 150 yrs+ and it hasn’t worked out.

Look at our best competition: Indiana, Ohio State, USC, Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon. Programs like Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are much better capitalized with the best facilities money can buy. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent over generations. Penn State just spent $700M on their stadium. Rutgers on the other hand, looks like amateur hour. You can’t compete with these programs on a shoestring budget.

This is why we recruit very few of the best New Jersey football players, which really should be our bread and butter.

What do they have that we don’t have? Money, lots of it. Anyone who says we should be able to compete with those programs without more money, is a ******* fool. You don’t make up for a $10M-$20M discrepancy in talent with better coaching, which is what some of you foolishly believe. Michigan is paying $4M a year for their quarterback. They’re also throwing millions at their offensive and defensive lines. What are we paying? A hell of a lot less.

Look at our transfer class. It’s one of the worst in the Big Ten. Why? Not enough NIL support. Look at our high school class. Where is the Anthony Davis and Darius Hamilton recruits? They’re going elsewhere, not Rutgers.

For us to win big, we need:
- the high rollers in the fanbase to write the big checks
- a $300M Fieldhouse
- $15M more in NIL support

Money will cure our performance problems. We need fewer big mouths. More big checks.

Let’s make it happen.
 

MURF87

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Jan 19, 2008
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Frustrated Here We Go GIF by Sesame Street
 
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Jun 7, 2001
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So here we go again
Start another inflammatory thread that will go on for pages and accomplish nothing
You never learn

I’m not the one who has something to learn. I’m watching Miami add the best players money can buy. I’m watching Rutgers add more diamonds in the rough that we hope will one day become great players. The difference in support couldn’t be more stark.

People either want to win or they don’t. We either pay the toll for success or we don’t. It’s a binary decision, Yes or No.

You can’t say you want to win and then do nothing about it. I’m bringing awareness to the fanbase because most people have their head in the sand. 100+ years of adverse history backs me up.
17-53-1 vs Princeton backs me up.
 

albanyknight

All-American
Feb 3, 2004
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Al, clearly there is validity in your post. We need infusions of cash to improve a program and that is exactly what Kelly, and her staff are spending 16 hours a day trying to do.

Where I think you go a bit off the rails is when you fail to acknowledge some of the following points:

Long before NIL, programs like Miami still cleaned our clocks every year. At Rutgers unless management changes the paradigm, we are in a chicken and egg situation. The casual fan won't support the program until we start winning but we need the $$ in part to start winning. Also, it was just a few short years ago that the Hurricanes played before half-empty stadiums.

Rutgers like Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Virginia still have some semblance of academic integrity. We won't just take anybody like most of the schools we compete against.

It is no accident that Rutgers, Maryland, Georgia Tech, UCLA and USC (all colleges in pro sports towns) have all struggled in the modern era of the brave new world of fewer and fewer people with less and less dollars. I know hundreds of Giants and Jets season ticket holders where Rutgers sports is not even a blip on their radar screens.

My job brought me into contact with all of the major players on Wall Street. You would be surprised how few graduated from Rutgers.

New Jersey like the DC area is a very transient area with people being transferred in and out all the time. Having lived in both areas, I have seen it first-hand. You know what other areas share this problem..................Chicago, LA and Atlanta. Browbeating these message boards is an exercise in futility. Although your basic premise is correct, you are addressing the wrong audience. The answer is big time corporate sponsors which I assure you are not reading these boards.
 
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RUAldo

All-Conference
Sep 11, 2008
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Corporate sponsorships, naming rights, and TV/ad revenue is the only long term solution for funding athletic departments. Donor fatigue will hit every program sooner than later. Financial chaos and taxpayer outrage probably isn’t far off. Common sense may also prevail at some point when people realize paying D1 QBs more than proven NFL QBs is idiotic.
 

LotusAggressor_rivals

All-American
Oct 11, 2003
16,124
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Lack of donations has not been the driver of mediocrity in the last 3 years. Subpar coaching is. The lack of donations didn't cause the icing of the kicker and subsequent catch and run walk off TD against Illinois, the dropped TD pass against Nebraska, the full game bedshi@#ings against UCLA (one of the worst teams in the B1G at the time), Illinois (again), and Washington. Not to mention the second half collapses against Minnesota, Iowa, and KSU. When it comes to competing with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon money is certainly an issue, but it's not THE issue when it comes to the rest of the B1G.
 

ClassOf02v.2

Heisman
Sep 30, 2010
13,757
15,190
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Of course we lag behind other blue bloods in NIL. Al isn’t exactly breaking news here.

Some posters above are correct….it’s a chicken/egg scenario. When we see more winning, the fan base will grow and NIL donations will increase. But something has to happen to get that winning to start — the NIL war chest won’t grow significantly without winning first. So Keli & President Tate have to find different ways to increase revenue (corporate sponsors, etc). By all accounts, they’re off to a pretty good start.

Al has always been a polarizing figure. It used to be in an embarrassing, yet somewhat affable kind of way. This version who just lectures the boards about what we already know is just tiresome.
 

newell138

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
36,987
47,497
112
I’m not the one who has something to learn. I’m watching Miami add the best players money can buy. I’m watching Rutgers add more diamonds in the rough that we hope will one day become great players. The difference in support couldn’t be more stark.

People either want to win or they don’t. We either pay the toll for success or we don’t. It’s a binary decision, Yes or No.

You can’t say you want to win and then do nothing about it. I’m bringing awareness to the fanbase because most people have their head in the sand. 100+ years of adverse history backs me up.
17-53-1 vs Princeton backs me up.
Who says we can't say we want to win? The Giants aren't asking me to chip in for players salaries. 99% of the people on this board are not going to make a difference in our recruiting by their donations. Most of us were fans long before you and didn't sign up to paying players salaries when we became fans.

I have no interest in giving my hard earned money to some random 19 year old to play football for a year. I'd rather give it to my kids or some of my preferred charities.
 

NickRU714

Heisman
Aug 18, 2009
14,085
12,886
113
Who says we can't say we want to win? The Giants aren't asking me to chip in for players salaries. 99% of the people on this board are not going to make a difference in our recruiting by their donations. Most of us were fans long before you and didn't sign up to paying players salaries when we became fans.

I have no interest in giving my hard earned money to some random 19 year old to play football for a year. I'd rather give it to my kids or some of my preferred charities.

Did you not get the email from the Giants:
"We want to hire Harbaugh. But we need you to donate towards his salary. The responsibility is on the fans"??

The funding model of college athletics is crazy.

Imagine if you donated money towards hiring Joe Judge???
Screaming Homer Simpson GIF
 
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LotusAggressor_rivals

All-American
Oct 11, 2003
16,124
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Did you not get the email from the Giants:
"We want to hire Harbaugh. But we need you to donate towards his salary. The responsibility is on the fans"??

The funding model of college athletics is crazy.

Imagine if you donated money towards hiring Joe Judge???
Screaming Homer Simpson GIF
Donations paid for Robb Smith.
 

AreYouNUTS

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
123,362
57,408
113
Lack of donations has not been the driver of mediocrity in the last 3 years. Subpar coaching is. The lack of donations didn't cause the icing of the kicker and subsequent catch and run walk off TD against Illinois, the dropped TD pass against Nebraska, the full game bedshi@#ings against UCLA (one of the worst teams in the B1G at the time), Illinois (again), and Washington. Not to mention the second half collapses against Minnesota, Iowa, and KSU. When it comes to competing with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon money is certainly an issue, but it's not THE issue when it comes to the rest of the B1G.
According to Al the 2008 debacle to start the season wasn’t coaching either.
 

Rutgers Chris

All-American
Nov 29, 2005
5,098
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Lack of donations has not been the driver of mediocrity in the last 3 years. Subpar coaching is. The lack of donations didn't cause the icing of the kicker and subsequent catch and run walk off TD against Illinois, the dropped TD pass against Nebraska, the full game bedshi@#ings against UCLA (one of the worst teams in the B1G at the time), Illinois (again), and Washington. Not to mention the second half collapses against Minnesota, Iowa, and KSU. When it comes to competing with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon money is certainly an issue, but it's not THE issue when it comes to the rest of the B1G.
It’s almost useless arguing with those that have the coaching blinders on. I watch every game, outside of the blue bloods, we are on par talent wise with everyone else in the B1G. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have more wins against Illinois, UCLA, Nebraska, Iowa, etc.
 

RUAldo

All-Conference
Sep 11, 2008
5,003
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Other than the corporate route, Raise ticket prices so the people that really care about football and hard-core RU fans can fund NIL. Tack on an NIL fee to season ticket holders. Isn’t that how the NFL basically works? RutgersAL and the “let’s buy players” crew willing to pay $150+ per ticket? Of course not…at least not for every home game. Our stadium would be empty which really tells you something.
 
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Caliknight

Hall of Famer
Sep 21, 2001
196,502
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Of course we lag behind other blue bloods in NIL. Al isn’t exactly breaking news here.

Some posters above are correct….it’s a chicken/egg scenario. When we see more winning, the fan base will grow and NIL donations will increase. But something has to happen to get that winning to start — the NIL war chest won’t grow significantly without winning first. So Keli & President Tate have to find different ways to increase revenue (corporate sponsors, etc). By all accounts, they’re off to a pretty good start.

Al has always been a polarizing figure. It used to be in an embarrassing, yet somewhat affable kind of way. This version who just lectures the boards about what we already know is just tiresome.
Unfortunately he's all over the web making Rutgers look bad. It used to be contained here. Then he made the Savon video and all containment was lost. He's just doing schtick at this point. Should be banned for clearly repetitive posting which is against the rules.
 

wheezer

Heisman
Jun 3, 2001
169,857
25,544
113
I’m not the one who has something to learn. I’m watching Miami add the best players money can buy. I’m watching Rutgers add more diamonds in the rough that we hope will one day become great players. The difference in support couldn’t be more stark.

People either want to win or they don’t. We either pay the toll for success or we don’t. It’s a binary decision, Yes or No.

You can’t say you want to win and then do nothing about it. I’m bringing awareness to the fanbase because most people have their head in the sand. 100+ years of adverse history backs me up.
17-53-1 vs Princeton backs me up.
Your posts on this accomplish nothing
You are never going to get enough money donated with your asking for more on these boards, and you should know that already

I think your true motive is for you to stay relevant and it is not succeeding

If you really wanted to make a difference, search for billionaire alumni and appeal to them directly
 
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Jun 7, 2001
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There are children with cancer.
There are war torn regions where innocents suffer.
There are places where a small amount of generosity would ease peoples tremendous unjust suffering.
...and if I don't give to any of them, I'm certainly not increasing my RU AD donation.

Theres room to support good causes in addition to your favorite football team.

If people don’t increase their football support,
We’ll just have to embrace mediocrity, just like the last 100+ years. Then you can’t sit here and complain about the results. Because 2nd rate support provides 2nd rate results. That’s the tradeoff.
 
Jun 7, 2001
35,944
43,372
113
Al, clearly there is validity in your post. We need infusions of cash to improve a program and that is exactly what Kelly, and her staff are spending 16 hours a day trying to do.

Where I think you go a bit off the rails is when you fail to acknowledge some of the following points:

Long before NIL, programs like Miami still cleaned our clocks every year. At Rutgers unless management changes the paradigm, we are in a chicken and egg situation. The casual fan won't support the program until we start winning but we need the $$ in part to start winning. Also, it was just a few short years ago that the Hurricanes played before half-empty stadiums.

Rutgers like Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Virginia still have some semblance of academic integrity. We won't just take anybody like most of the schools we compete against.

It is no accident that Rutgers, Maryland, Georgia Tech, UCLA and USC (all colleges in pro sports towns) have all struggled in the modern era of the brave new world of fewer and fewer people with less and less dollars. I know hundreds of Giants and Jets season ticket holders where Rutgers sports is not even a blip on their radar screens.

My job brought me into contact with all of the major players on Wall Street. You would be surprised how few graduated from Rutgers.

New Jersey like the DC area is a very transient area with people being transferred in and out all the time. Having lived in both areas, I have seen it first-hand. You know what other areas share this problem..................Chicago, LA and Atlanta. Browbeating these message boards is an exercise in futility. Although your basic premise is correct, you are addressing the wrong audience. The answer is big time corporate sponsors which I assure you are not reading these boards.

I work for a corporate sponsor that has zero desire to invest in Rutgers Athletics because the potential ROI is not enough. It is easier for corporate sponsors to support successful programs. Though there are exceptions like Nike, Corporate Sponsors generally don’t support transforming losers into winners because it’s too big a risk. They’re happy to sign on to established programs, like Hondas support of Ohio State and Fords support of Texas
 
Jun 7, 2001
35,944
43,372
113
Lack of donations has not been the driver of mediocrity in the last 3 years. Subpar coaching is. The lack of donations didn't cause the icing of the kicker and subsequent catch and run walk off TD against Illinois, the dropped TD pass against Nebraska, the full game bedshi@#ings against UCLA (one of the worst teams in the B1G at the time), Illinois (again), and Washington. Not to mention the second half collapses against Minnesota, Iowa, and KSU. When it comes to competing with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon money is certainly an issue, but it's not THE issue when it comes to the rest of the B1G.

It was coaching that got us close.

Just because we came close to having better seasons, doesn’t mean talent wasn’t a factor in our losses. Two years ago, Wesley Bailey and Aaron Lewis were injured, as were Toure and Powell. Put them at 100%, and we easily beat Illinois and UCLA. The biggest issue was that we had no one behind them. And our rookie safety struggled mightily. USC in particular KILLED us on crossing routes. Makai Lemon who will soon be drafted, seemed to catch 100 balls for 1000 yards when we played them.

The biggest problem with this roster is we have effort kids but not enough elite kids. You need elite kids to compete in the Big Ten. We have one- Korey Duff. We are especially weak at defensive end and offensive tackle.
 
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Who says we can't say we want to win? The Giants aren't asking me to chip in for players salaries. 99% of the people on this board are not going to make a difference in our recruiting by their donations. Most of us were fans long before you and didn't sign up to paying players salaries when we became fans.

I have no interest in giving my hard earned money to some random 19 year old to play football for a year. I'd rather give it to my kids or some of my preferred charities.
perfectly said

I would piss on a bill before I gave it to a 19 year old kid to play sports for Rutgers
 

T2Kplus20

Heisman
May 1, 2007
31,867
19,841
113
The only reason we don’t win big, is that most of you aren’t serious about winning. It’s a lot easier to run your big mouth on the messageboard, than write that big check to support the football program.

I have very strong connections to the University of Miami football program, and the biggest reason they played for the National Championship is Money. They paid $4M for their quarterback alone, and also paid a boatload of money for their star right tackle and star defensive end. They literally stole our best defensive player, and compensated him handsomely. He in turn, helped lead them to the National Championship Game, by being a productive tackler.

This is the caliber of talent you need to compete in the big time. We don’t have this caliber of talent, so we do the best we can with what we have. This is the biggest reason we have been mediocre, and will continue to be.

I don’t care what anyone else says, you need money to win Big. Without it, you will be also rans, just as we have been throughout most of our history. We have been trying to Win on the Cheap for the last 150 yrs+ and it hasn’t worked out.

Look at our best competition: Indiana, Ohio State, USC, Michigan, Penn State, and Oregon. Programs like Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are much better capitalized with the best facilities money can buy. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent over generations. Penn State just spent $700M on their stadium. Rutgers on the other hand, looks like amateur hour. You can’t compete with these programs on a shoestring budget.

This is why we recruit very few of the best New Jersey football players, which really should be our bread and butter.

What do they have that we don’t have? Money, lots of it. Anyone who says we should be able to compete with those programs without more money, is a ******* fool. You don’t make up for a $10M-$20M discrepancy in talent with better coaching, which is what some of you foolishly believe. Michigan is paying $4M a year for their quarterback. They’re also throwing millions at their offensive and defensive lines. What are we paying? A hell of a lot less.

Look at our transfer class. It’s one of the worst in the Big Ten. Why? Not enough NIL support. Look at our high school class. Where is the Anthony Davis and Darius Hamilton recruits? They’re going elsewhere, not Rutgers.

For us to win big, we need:
- the high rollers in the fanbase to write the big checks
- a $300M Fieldhouse
- $15M more in NIL support

Money will cure our performance problems. We need fewer big mouths. More big checks.

Let’s make it happen.
 

ClassOf02v.2

Heisman
Sep 30, 2010
13,757
15,190
103
Theres room to support good causes in addition to your favorite football team.

If people don’t increase their football support,
We’ll just have to embrace mediocrity, just like the last 100+ years. Then you can’t sit here and complain about the results. Because 2nd rate support provides 2nd rate results. That’s the tradeoff.
Hypothetical counterpoint…

If I choose to give to charities that help sick children, feed the hungry, support our vets, etc. are you suggesting I should choose one of those to give up so that I can redirect charitable dollars to non-loyal 19 year olds?

People will make their own personal decisions about where to direct their money. And none of those decisions are wrong, whether benefitting Rutgers or not. If you don’t like it because you wanna be like Miami, you are tilting at windmills.

Stop the lectures.