Lets Look at Next Year

[Knight Shift]

It gets too easy to figure out the agenda or small minds of some posters.

Yet people keep indulging them, giving them the clicks and attention they crave. Will never understand why anyone bothers to interact with Shelby, or why Shelby remains a poster on these boards. Think that that clicks are important to the board, and he continues to pollute the boards with his nonsense.

Everything I have seen so far from both Tate and Zinn have been as supportive of Rutgers Athletics as we have never seen before - ok, maybe back in the early 2000's - but that was a much more simplified version of what you need now.

They both also seem to understand the importance of the Football program and what it brings to the University. Keli seems like she is all in on raising additional NIL and it also seems that she will use most of the $20 mil on players, mostly football followed by mens BB.

The real question will be - does she feel GS is capable of winning big if she does put her *** on the line by breaking the bank for him. She obviously has to weigh the contract vs the results - that may give Greg one more year with full support. Or, does she feel strong enough that he is not the answer for the next step forward and has the ability to get the backing to let him go.

One thing I differ from then many on here - I cannot look at this season and see it as a complete failure. I can see a couple of games that we lost due to coaching and a couple of games where we just didn't have enough talent on defense. I saw the players play hard in every game, and if those kids just had that little more talent, they may have overcome the coaching blunders. And outside of a couple of losses- we really were in ever single game. Just a play or two away from being in the lower upper half of the B1G instead of in the lower 1/4.

I can see what you are saying, but in the end, results matter. And Keli was the acting AD at WVU before her role at LSU. She has been around P4 and a big time program long enough to know the deal. The buyouts she was left with for Greg and Pike are a big issue. She is not putting herself on the line. She also realizes what a huge local hero Greg is to a large segment of the fanbase and the donors. She is really risking little by giving Greg another year (perhaps 2) by raising NIL (which needs to be done anyway). If Greg cannot succeed with increased NIL and better talent, the question answers itself, and it is an easier sell to fire him.

If "being in games" and "having a little more talent" mattered as much as winning (I know that is not what you said), then why did Cal fire Wilcox?
2025: season record was 7-5 and lost to conf champ Va by 10 points, lost in 2 OT to Va Tech (not good), but SO CLOSE to 9-3!!!
2024: season record was 6-6 and lost four games by 5 points or less and another game by 1 score. --SO CLOSE to 10-2!!!!

When GM Ron Rivera came about at Cal, he said the standard was 8 wins --Wilcox achieved that only in 2019. He treaded 6 wins the last 3 seasons.

Same for Jonathan Smith at Michigan State--granted ONLY 2 seasons and fired:

2024: 5-7 record (all wins vacated because of Mel Tucker's nonsense)--but lost 2 games by 1 score--ALMOST 7-5
2025: 4-8 record--lost 2 games by 2 scores again--ALMOST 6-6.

Back to Rutgers- you have to remember that Rutgers only beat MAC Ohio 34-31, and lowly Purdue by a time expiring field goal (3 points). By the ALMOST logic, Rutgers could have been 3-9.

As an old saying goes, close does not count except in horseshoes and hand grenades. Rutgers was CLOSE to having an epic failure of a season.

 

[Knight Shift]

Robinson would be a good get for recruiting, but some fans will say we don't want a Fran Brown/Cuse cast-off:

 

[PSAL_Hoops]

Yet people keep indulging them, giving them the clicks and attention they crave. Will never understand why anyone bothers to interact with Shelby, or why Shelby remains a poster on these boards. Think that that clicks are important to the board, and he continues to pollute the boards with his nonsense.


I can see what you are saying, but in the end, results matter. And Keli was the acting AD at WVU before her role at LSU. She has been around P4 and a big time program long enough to know the deal. The buyouts she was left with for Greg and Pike are a big issue. She is not putting herself on the line. She also realizes what a huge local hero Greg is to a large segment of the fanbase and the donors. She is really risking little by giving Greg another year (perhaps 2) by raising NIL (which needs to be done anyway). If Greg cannot succeed with increased NIL and better talent, the question answers itself, and it is an easier sell to fire him.

If "being in games" and "having a little more talent" mattered as much as winning (I know that is not what you said), then why did Cal fire Wilcox?
2025: season record was 7-5 and lost to conf champ Va by 10 points, lost in 2 OT to Va Tech (not good), but SO CLOSE to 9-3!!!
2024: season record was 6-6 and lost four games by 5 points or less and another game by 1 score. --SO CLOSE to 10-2!!!!

When GM Ron Rivera came about at Cal, he said the standard was 8 wins --Wilcox achieved that only in 2019. He treaded 6 wins the last 3 seasons.

Same for Jonathan Smith at Michigan State--granted ONLY 2 seasons and fired:

2024: 5-7 record (all wins vacated because of Mel Tucker's nonsense)--but lost 2 games by 1 score--ALMOST 7-5
2025: 4-8 record--lost 2 games by 2 scores again--ALMOST 6-6.

Back to Rutgers- you have to remember that Rutgers only beat MAC Ohio 34-31, and lowly Purdue by a time expiring field goal (3 points). By the ALMOST logic, Rutgers could have been 3-9.

As an old saying goes, close does not count except in horseshoes and hand grenades. Rutgers was CLOSE to having an epic failure of a season.

Yes - we “only” beat Ohio by a few points - but “Only” not losing a single non-conf game in 5 years isn’t “nothing”. Created hype and potential around the program for the first third of every single season. It’s not like there weren’t games against bowl teams and road wins mixed in there. Some against the ACC. Not losing those games after years of getting embarrassed by Eastern Michigan and Buffalo types isn’t “nothing”.

He’s been at least jn the mix for bowl eligibility on the last regular season game of every one his seasons except one (if we played non-conference games the Covid year he’d no doubt have been playing with at least 5 wins against Nebraska).

Is this where we want the program to be? Of course not. But I go back to the point Plum preached forever. The bar for success at Rutgers is sadly very low and theres almost no chance Rutgers has the resources right now to cover the cost of both a buy out and a slam dunk replacement. Replacing Greg with an up and coming mid major coach with no power conf experience is very likely to fail miserably. For every one or two examples one can point to of sustained success when making the jump there are far more who send programs plummeting. That’s just the reality of where we are. Greg hasn’t taken us to where we want to be yet but neither has his replacement because we don’t have the money to buy someone with a track record of success. There’s just as much chance that Greg has another 2006 at some point as there is us striking it rich with the right mid-major coach to make the jump.

 

[Kbe4]

Yes - we “only” beat Ohio by a few points - but “Only” not losing a single non-conf game in 5 years isn’t “nothing”. Created hype and potential around the program for the first third of every single season. It’s not like there weren’t games against bowl teams and road wins mixed in there. Some against the ACC. Not losing those games after years of getting embarrassed by Eastern Michigan and Buffalo types isn’t “nothing”.

He’s been at least jn the mix for bowl eligibility on the last regular season game of every one his seasons except one (if we played non-conference games the Covid year he’d no doubt have been playing with at least 5 wins against Nebraska).

Is this where we want the program to be? Of course not. But I go back to the point Plum preached forever. The bar for success at Rutgers is sadly very low and theres almost no chance Rutgers has the resources right now to cover the cost of both a buy out and a slam dunk replacement. Replacing Greg with an up and coming mid major coach with no power conf experience is very likely to fail miserably. For every one or two examples one can point to of sustained success when making the jump there are far more who send programs plummeting. That’s just the reality of where we are. Greg hasn’t taken us to where we want to be yet but neither has his replacement because we don’t have the money to buy someone with a track record of success. There’s just as much chance that Greg has another 2006 at some point as there is us striking it rich with the right mid-major coach to make the jump.

Instead of talking all of this b.s. about buying out Greg and spending bucks to hire a "better option", better we should talk about spending to keep the better players currently on the roster and acquiring some others to fill our weaker spots.