The Path to Competitiveness in the Big 10, with Rutgers' AD, Keli Zinn
- Thread starter Tango Two
- Start date
This was a good listen. It’s crazy to think that it was just one year ago that the AD search fell apart. We really lucked out with Keli Zinn.
And we should not forget that our wonderful President Tate made a power move and decided to her Keli Zinn.
I miss when sports was mostly just about sports and not revenue streams, NIL ,caps, and organizational building blocks inside "spaces."
Anyone who cares about Rutgers should listen to this. She’s incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about her job and winning. A lot of nuggets in there that’s for sure I could see her being a P4 commissioner at some point very easily.
Not sure if the podcast's opening song is always the same, but Dinosaur Jr's feel the pain for Rutgers is weird:
I feel the pain of everyone
Then I feel nothing
I feel the pain of everyone
Then I feel nothing
Is it up to me?
You won't wait to see
Screwed us yet again
About as close as you dare
I feel the pain of everyone
Then I feel nothing
I feel the pain of everyone
Then I feel nothing
Is it up to me?
You won't wait to see
Screwed us yet again
About as close as you dare
That was a great interview. Very excited to have her at RU and I hope she is able to turn it around. it seems very clear she is looking to reduce expenses while also increasing revenue, which is likely to be very challenging, but she sounds like she knows what she is doing and has a plan to get there.
I like her approach to Olympic sports. We shouldn't cut Olympic sports because they create opportunities for students to enhance their academic experience. But those athletes should be true STUDENT athletes, not hired guns in an attempt to win championships. So while we want to fund those program to the extent necessary to exist, don't overspend to be the best because your expenses should be focused on the revenue sports.
So baseball players and gymnasts have to be students, but football players and basketball playeres don't. I know it's true, but this is absolute garbage. Why are these teams even affiliated with a college any more. These athletes are not students at the university. They should just stop the charade and break away completely from colleges to create minor league sports with no academic requirements.
We're on the same page. The non-revenue sports should still be about recruiting the best athletes who are primarily in college to get a degree. As you know, that ship has sailed on the revenue sports.
If we are all being honest, the Olympic sports are the one area we can actually compete for championships, with proper funding. There is a reason schools like Uva, Unc, OSU, Michigan, and many others invest in those programs. It enriches the experience of students and alumni a like. Keli understands that. From a cost perspective, there is a lot of bang for the buck there.
Regarding football and basketball, I've long argued they should be carved out of the "student-athlete" equation and simply make them part of the marketing department. There should be no expectation of going to class to remain eligible in some joke major, with little hope of graduating. If those athletes want to get an education, do so in the offseason wherever they want. Big time football and basketball are professionalized sports that are played as a means to advertise a school. The student part of the equation has long since sailed. Be honest with what it is and move forward from there.