When I was at Rutgers in the late ’90s and early 2000s, there was this group called RU1000. They were against Rutgers going “big time.” They didn’t want the school chasing TV money or trying to be a major football program. They thought Rutgers should focus on academics and stay out of big-time athletics altogether.
Back then, I thought they were out of touch and thought they were lame . I loved the energy of big-time college sports and was thrilled when we eventually joined the Big Ten.
But now, looking at where we are , year after year struggling, I can’t help but wonder if they saw something the rest of us didn’t.
Were they right?
Alumni/fan indifference towards athletics is a big reason why you are writing this.
The move to the B1G required large investments in facilities, better coaches, etc. for RU to catch up. Unfortunately, no big donors have stepped up with large donations since RU made the move.
The B1G Build Fund was a success by RU "standards" but pathetic by B1G standards. The minimum acceptable goal should have been $500m. Instead it topped out at $100m and that was with the state providing $25m. Many schools in the conference receive gifts from alumni, fans or former players in the $25-50m range. That's how State Penn started it's hockey program.
This indifference continued on into that current era with that dirty three letter word (NIL). A huge opportunity was missed here to cut the gap in football and other sports. Unfortunately the damage is done here as schools like Indiana, for example, had large money alums step up and they went to the CFP last year and are ranked again this season.
Unless large money donors step up, RU will not compete very well in a number of sports in this conference. Without those types of donors, RU will also run large deficits even with the TV money which is funding operations.
So while the RU1000's premise was old and outdated, the lack of support can lead people to feel like maybe they were right. The current AD and President have a monumental task ahead of them to get people to crack up their rusted wallets and get RU on an acceptable level of donations with the rest of the conference.
