In a nutshell

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

I kinda laughed when the usual suspects went crazy about a first round win over a team that was below .500 and was forced to play a zone due to a lack of able bodied players. Having said that, I will give coaching credit for an effective attack of that zone. But the truth is that if Francis (the guy Pike didnt want) didnt go off, we lose that game.

The truth is that coaches are fired for less. Pike deserves to be fired. He’s got to retain Francis, Mark and Buchanan, get an offensive coordiantor AND recruit quality portal talent to save his job, and by all accounts next season is do or die. If Pike pulls off a semi miracle Ill eat crow. But I sincerely doubt I will.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Nevermind. We know he’s coming back.

Im inclined to agree with your priorities. Pike needs to bring in 2 clear and away front court starters - one hopefully with some handling skills. Francis will without question play starter minutes along with those 2 new “expensive” additions. Ideally - we’d pick up 2 more guys in the portal (maybe lower level guys with some production) who would compete with Buchanan and Mark and comprise the core rotation along with a couple other lower cost returners competing for minutes (Zrno?, Powers?, Nwuli? - depends of who is asking what in my opinion more than anything else - they’ve all had their ups and downs - strengths and weaknesses as first year players). If Dortch costs the same basically as a frosh Id be ok with keeping him as a back up body.

 

[bac2therac]

I kinda laughed when the usual suspects went crazy about a first round win over a team that was below .500 and was forced to play a zone due to a lack of able bodied players. Having said that, I will give coaching credit for an effective attack of that zone. But the truth is that if Francis (the guy Pike didnt want) didnt go off, we lose that game.

The truth is that coaches are fired for less. Pike deserves to be fired. He’s got to retain Francis, Mark and Buchanan, get an offensive coordiantor AND recruit quality portal talent to save his job, and by all accounts next season is do or die. If Pike pulls off a semi miracle Ill eat crow. But I sincerely doubt I will.

fair post and you nailed them about the rose petals for beating Minnesota which basically points out the low bar that some have set for the program. Our success this year is almost entirely on Francis and especially in that game. Keeping him is mandatory but the majority of the team will either be leaving or on the bench next year. Pike is back and deserves the shot with NIL so we shall what happens. Hopefully the pollyannas gaslighting eases up over the offseason

 

[soundcrib]

...and we know Steve isn't getting rid of one of his current assistants for an "offensive coordinator".

 

[ancienthooper]

Who let Lou out of his nutshell?

 

[RUBigFrank]

Lou needs to go to an empty theatre and yell fire.

 

[Knight Shift]

 

[RUSCFORMERLYRULOU]

Go play replays of what you Pike fanatics consider like a World Series or Super Bowl win- the big win over sub 500 Minnesota.

 

[bac2therac]

Go play replays of what you Pike fanatics consider like a World Series or Super Bowl win- the big win over sub 500 Minnesota.

Id tell them to watch todays Big East quarterfinals because thats the level of basketball RU has to get up to. Too many have been accustomed to setting low bars and believing a few made baskets is quality hoops

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

fair post and you nailed them about the rose petals for beating Minnesota which basically points out the low bar that some have set for the program. Our success this year is almost entirely on Francis and especially in that game. Keeping him is mandatory but the majority of the team will either be leaving or on the bench next year. Pike is back and deserves the shot with NIL so we shall what happens. Hopefully the pollyannas gaslighting eases up over the offseason

It’s not black and white - starter vs non-starter. Keeping TF, Lino and Buchanan would be our best case scenario for a starting point. I’d put the floor expected PT o/u for each of them in a decent team at 22 for different reasons. Tariq would be around 30 - all of these give or take.

fair post and you nailed them about the rose petals for beating Minnesota which basically points out the low bar that some have set for the program. Our success this year is almost entirely on Francis and especially in that game. Keeping him is mandatory but the majority of the team will either be leaving or on the bench next year. Pike is back and deserves the shot with NIL so we shall what happens. Hopefully the pollyannas gaslighting eases up over the offseason

In the end, the season unfolded in the best way we could’ve realistically hoped for. It’s not the right time to move on from Pike due to the buy out. We won enough games and have a shot at bringing back those couple interesting pieces - one nucleus and a few other complements to build around. He may not succeed but it’s at least not embarrassing on a national scale to retain him this year - it’s at least not a “zero” chance like Ash in 2019. He does, as you said, deserve a chance with reasonable NIL resources to fix things after the success he’s had at Rutgers in the past.

 

[MADHAT1]

Former RULOU said:"The truth is that coaches are fired for less. Pike deserves to be fired."
Example
Bobby Hurley went 185-167 (.526) over 11 seasons, leaving as the second-winningest coach in program history
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 3 (2018, 2019, 2023)
Failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in his final three seasons, including a 14-18 record in 2023-24 and a 17-16 mark in 2025-26.

Steve Pikiell is in his 10th season (as of March 2026) with a 161-159 (.503) record.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2 (2021, 2022).
Recent Trend: After top-five NBA draft picks in 2024-25, the team experienced a "steady downhill turn," failing to make the NCAA Tournament for three consecutive seasons following 2022. (15-17>15-17 & 14-19)

Hurley has a slightly higher overall winning percentage at his school (.526 vs .503).
Both coaches built their programs up (Hurley with three 20-win seasons, Pikiell with two NCAA runs) and both their programs have significantly declined in the 2023–2026 period.

ASU has fired Hurley
Rutgers is bringing back Pikiell

Wes Miller was just fired as Cincinnati's HC
He was 100-74 for the 5 years he was there
and never had a losing season there, but never made it to the Dance.
The HC at Cincy before Miller ,John Brannen, was 32-20 in his 2 years, but was let go after having a 12-11 season his second year and no Dance ticket in either one

Most of my info came from google searches

 

[mugrat86]

Id tell them to watch todays Big East quarterfinals because thats the level of basketball RU has to get up to. Too many have been accustomed to setting low bars and believing a few made baskets is quality hoops

We will get to that level when we have NIL money equivalent to those programs

 

[GM]

Pike certainly deserves to be fired. He also can’t really be until at least next year cause of his contract. I think he’s also proven he’s not the antichrist who has zero clue how basketball works. Hopefully, with a competitive budget he can inject some life back into the program and get back to what, purely as a basketball coach, he is, which is a pretty solid one. I like that in his presser he doesn’t seem like he just wants to run back everyone and pray for development. Hopefully he hits better with the big swings and hits on the rotation pieces like he did with Tariq and Buchanan.

 

[ScarletKid2008]

If money wasn’t a factor then Pike should’ve been fired after the loss to Princeton last year at Prudential where Rutgers torurnsment hopes with TWO top 5 picks were over before conference play even got into full swing.

the massive generational fumble , followed by this seasons team was dead on arrival. Basically shows pike needs a defibrillator to get this program back to sniffing tournaments

 

[The RUT]

Pike built up a lot of equity, and a nice contract to go along with it.

It is what it is, but he’s got to start stringing wins here soon.

But he gets kids to improve over the course of the season, and then everyone says look, next year will be another jump up.

For me personally, I can live with sup par B1G seasons. What I can’t deal with are the annual losses and looking like crap in wins vs teams that don’t even belong on the same court as our players (CCSU this year).

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Normally, any time someone starts in on the "Pike should be fired" push (or for that matter, "Schiano should be fired"), my response is: Who are you going to hire, that we can afford, and who would be willing to come here? I ask this because I know the answer is always going to be worse than Pike. But with Bobby Hurley available, I'm not so sure that's true right now.

 

[bitnez]

Bobby sounds like he wants to coach next year but I really think he wants the RU job. I also think he realizes that BC is a dead end job (and I don’t see him as a fit at Cuse). If Pike doesn’t get it done next year it could come together.

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

We’re actually in the best position we could’ve hoped for looking ahead to next season. Couldn’t afford to entertain a coaching change with the buy out. Pitt is sticking with Capel another season. Knight will be motivated to “prove his worth” next season. If we turn things around with Pike he’d have a pretty good shot at getting that offer whereas this year he’d have been a long shot.

The first thing to watch for though I guess, is an NIT bid. Pike sure seems to want one based on his presser. He must’ve said 3+ times - I wish we could keep playing. More high major teams than usual though in that 15-18 win range and 8 less teams in the Crown this year so an offer may be a long shot.